Awakening to Battle
by The4Ryan9
Summary: I hadn't come to this world of my own volition. In fact I was sent here against my own will. But now I find myself in a new world and after seeing that sword I know the danger it faces. Even if this isn't the world I was born in, even if it is only one of thousands out there, I wouldn't be Shirou Emiya anymore if I didn't try to save everyone living here. No matter the cost.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is my new story, Awakening to Battle. While I never did finish my first story I'm putting it on hold for now so that I can improve my writing before I go back and rewrite it. The basic idea for the story is that a Blade Works route Shirou Emiya ends up in the world of Fire Emblem Awakening due to Kaleidoscope shenanigans. There he sees 'Marth's' sword and is able to put two and two together quite easily. *SPOILER WARNING* I know the game is several years old already but I'm still gonna warn people. If you don't want Fire Emblem Awakening's plot spoiled for you don't read this story. Even the first chapter has major spoilers for later in the game.**

 **EDITED 3/16/2019 - Mainly adding paragraph breaks to make it more readable**

Today had been completely normal by my own standards. Granted my standards had always been a little skewed, ever since the Fifth Grail War began almost five years ago my standards for normal had drifted away from what most would see as normal. Before then my days had been filled with close friends like Taiga and Sakura, school, a part time job working at a local pub, cooking, and practicing my magecraft. Now my time was spent with friends like Rin and Luvia, cooking, practicing magecraft, and my newer part time job of hunting Sealing Designates.

Put like that it didn't seem that all that much had changed. Now everything had been going as closely to normal as can be expected from my life until he stepped in. Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, Luvia and Rin's teacher and wielder of the Kaleidoscope, The Second True Magic, The Operation of Parallel Worlds. Now even this was 'normal' for me, he often launched me across the world or dimensions and had Rin or Luvia track me down as a test before I fell to whatever monstrosities inhabited where he had sent me.

I had always imagined travelling across dimensions would cause some discomfort or dizziness, and it did to a degree when I first experienced it, but since then I had gained some resistance to the effects, to the point where they were hardly noticeable. So, it was the mind searing pain that first alerted me that this was abnormal even for me.

When I arrived at my unexpected destination I was actually about fifteen meters in the air. Activating a single circuit I channeled prana into my legs as I prepared for the impact. I landed with a dull thud, knees bent and arms out to the side, ready to trace in case of foes. Reinforcing my hearing I listened for the swish of a weapon going through the air, in these kind if circumstances that was far too often my first and only warning. I heard it too but it was accompanie with the clashing of steel and the yells of battle. Improving my sight next I looked ahead, through some light brush, to see a clearing and the flames and sounds of battle coming from it.

While my first instinct was to charge in and try to end the fighting as soon as possible years on the battlefield had tempered those instincts into something somewhat productive, if inevitable. First was reconnaissance. Glancing around the forest I had found myself in I found a large enough tree. Climbing the trunk in leaps and bounds due to reinforced limbs I reached a branch high enough up to give me a good vantage but thick enough so that it could hold my weight with a little reinforcement on my part.

Glancing back towards the sounds of combat I had a much better view this time. It was less a battle and more a skirmish, with less than two dozen total combatants. The sides in the fight were easily identifiable, not because of set formations, or a coat of arms, or even consistent histories in their weapons. No, it was their humanity, or lack thereof, that told of their allegiance.

The first, and decidedly more human, side was comprised of a wide mix of troops. They wielded axes, swords, lances, bows. Two even seemed to be using a kind of mystic code, one a book that would launch electricity, and the other a jeweled rod that healed wounds. The others used weapons of metal, bows, axes, lances, and swords. Weapons that I was intimately familiar with after a glance.

Though they did not seem to use any practiced formation they all appeared to be trained or experienced warriors and moved about the battlefield with a sense of purpose. There was even a noticeable, overall strategy. It seemed to be directed by a white haired robed woman by what I could see. It was a stark contrast to what their opponents called battlefield tactics.

Shambling about and attacking with the ferocity of an animal or creature of instinct, lacking all tactics except for the basic concept of attack, what I could only call animated corpses charged the considerably more skilled and living combatants. They reminded me of the familiars of Dead Apostles, vampires who feed on blood of the living. Their victims would die and become mindless husks with nothing but a desire for blood as well.

The battle was a mismatch in every meaning of the word, and normally I would leave the battle to these experienced men and women. Allow them to exterminate their weaker and inhuman foe before continuing on my way. However there was one thing that worried me. Of the seven allied humans in the battle only one of their weapons held any history of killing these things. The rest had never crossed blades with these things before. And I could dismiss this if not for the long history some of the blades held. This meant that they were facing a new foe, an unknown one. A battle where new abilities and strange behavior could cause death at the smallest misstep. I would have to intervene.

Not because they would lose the battle or that people would die. But because they could die. And Shirou Emiya is not an existence that can allow death needlessly. Now I wish I could say that I had a tactical, intelligent approach. And I could easily come up with one. I had dozens of blades that would be anathema to the corpses, some more or less surely but at least one would work. I could easily alter them into arrows and destroy the abominations from my perch.

That would be the smart thing to do, not charge recklessly in like I had in my younger years, with no plans except to end the threat and save lives. But there were lives at immediate risk here by a foreign and unknown foe. And lack of information can be fatal in battle. All I can really say is, I guess some habits die hard. God I hope Rin doesn't find out about this.

Leaping from treetop to treetop I quickly neared the battle, jumping down from the last tree on my path I traced my favored pair of swords, Kanshou and Bakuya. Falling down I turned gravity into a double handed slash and severed both arms from one of my new opponents before beheading it with Kanshou. The blue haired man who had been dueling the thing blinked in surprise before smirking.

"And who are you friend?"

While my normal policy was that words were wasted breath on the battlefield, the question did deserve an answer, if a short one. "Shirou Emiya."

"Not a talkative one are you Shirou?" Watching as the swordsman moved forward to face another foe I matched his pace and charged my next target. Knocking away its overhand blow with Kanshou I spilled its guts with Bakuya before slicing its neck for good measure.

"Not on the battlefield I'm not," Pausing my reply I brought his sword to mind and reviewed its history. If I wasn't in battle I would say I was surprised, but emotion has no place in a sword or on a battlefield. "Chrom." Calling the name I pulled from his blade I hoped to end the conversation for the time or at least delay it until the fighting finished.

It must have worked because my only response was an entertained grunt as he knocked an opponent's guard wide before rolling out of the way of a bolt of lightning that ended the foe. It was an impressive display, few magus in the association I had seen could use such powerful electrical attacks. Its power was comparable to one of Caster's own attacks, though Caster launched dozens every second, all while maintaining flight, numerous defensive mysteries, and being ready to teleport at a moment's notice. Maybe it wasn't such a fair comparison though.

Pushing forwards the enemy was starting to rout, the remaining few dead putting up only token resistance except for one, markedly stronger than the others. Its bearing gave away its superior skill and strength as well as some basic intelligence. That one was the most dangerous, that would be the one I would kill. Bending low and rushing my objective with reinforced speed I watched as it noticed me and moved. It gave a short roar, like a animal on the hunt before hurling its axe at me. Flicking my wrist I sent Bakuya to deflect the axe, sending the axe to be buried into the ground and my sword into the air I held Kanshou and circled the walking corpse.

Following me with its eyes and turning my foe drew another axe from its back and charged me this time. It brought its blade around in a sweeping blow that I blocked with my own blade and locked the two. The being was strong for human standards but it could do little to push my reinforced strength even with two hands on his haft. It withdrew one hand from the weapon to try and claw me to death. But I only raised my hand in front of my face palm open. It was because It was so focused on trying to gut me that my foe never noticed the black spinning blade till it had cut through its neck and I had caught the sword in my open palm.

Pushing the now truly dead corpse and its axe off my blade I took a moment to observe the area for any remaining enemies before allowing the married swords to dissolve back into prana. Glancing around I quickly found two weapons that stood far above all other blades wielded in this battle. Hell, they even surpassed many of my own swords. That was only natural though, for the blades I found myself staring at were Noble Phantasms. Or would it be Noble Phantasm?

For despite being two separate blades they were the same Noble Phantasm. Not in the way that Kanshou and Bakuya were one C ranked phantasm and apart were considerably weaker, but that in both swords were two separate entities with the same name and history. Scratch that, near identical histories. One was the elder of the two by around three decades and the elder had never gone through this battle earlier in its history, only being wielded in this fight just now and lacking the experience that the younger had just now obtained. The sword, or swords, were Falchion.

Not a falchion like the dozens I possessed in my Bladeworks, but the Falchion. A sword forged by the dragon goddess Naga from her own fang, made for the purpose of empowering humans with the ability to slay other dragons, both to protect the weaker species and to end the dragons who had been cursed with madness.

But it was not the creation of the sword/s that interested me, nor was it their millennia long past that had me dumbfounded. It was those three short decades that existed in one sword but not the other that had me concerned. Because for all the war and tragedy in the sword's history it was just that, history. It was all in the past, deaths that had occurred and wars that had ended. They were like any other history or past dealings, relevant only in how they will shape the future, they were not the future itself. But that wasn't true for the history of the elder Falchion.

Three decades were described in the sword that did not exist in what was otherwise its mirror image. They described three wars against nations I had no context for, dozens of battles, hundreds of skirmishes, and countless deaths. But the most important part of all that history was what came after the third war, the one that was lost by Falchion and this one's former wielder. The war where Exalt Chrom of Ylisse would die and Falchion would be handed down to Lucina, later known as The Last Exalt. The war that would mark the beginning of what could only be called an apocalypse. A broken world populated by a few small groups of survivors and innumerable of these dead. These Risen as the sword called them.

And that was why there were two Falchions here, on this battlefield. One was the sword wielded by Lucina as she journeyed to find Naga and ask her aid in defeating these Risen and their master, Grima. She had gotten her aid but it was not in the form of a weapon to kill Grima or a powerful ally. It was in the form of what I would call a True Magic. A form of magecraft so powerful that it broke the laws of reality as known by science. Causing a feat that would be impossible through any other known means. Lucina and her companions had been sent backwards in time to avert the crisis entirely.

That was the story of Falchion, Chrom, and Lucina, and it was a story I could not accept. It went against everything that I was, to allow so many deaths for no reason. To see so much destruction, it was like that very fire I was born from, forged in. Except on an even more massive scale. Where that fire had claimed hundreds the dragon Grima would slay millions. Every building a city, every block a nation. The only difference other than scale would be recovery. My home town of Fuyuki healed, the fire left a scar but that was it. There would be no healing for this world, only death. And I couldn't allow that, it was anathema to my very nature, went against the very ideal I had possessed, inherited from my father Kiritsugu, to save. So rather than leaving this place, spiriting away to hide myself in anonymity until Rin, Luvia, or even Zelretch came to retrieve me I instead moved forwards.

Looking at the two of them at first there appeared to be nothing similar, only differences. One had their armor neat and tidy, despite the battle they had just fought. The other didn't even wear a full set, wearing armor on only one arm leaving the other bare except for a gloved hand. His cape was torn and worn along the bottom from being dragged while hers was clean except for a few spots of blood shed during the fighting. Her hair was neat, and combed back as she disguised her gender. His was shaggy and wild, likely the same look it had when he awoke that morning.

She wore a small metal mask, concealing both her features and emotions. He wore his heart on his sleeve, I could read his emotions like a book, or more aptly a sword in my case. Even their postures were in contrast. She was straight backed and official while he slouched and leaned on his sword of all things. If he weren't necessary to the world's survival I would've strangled him right there for disrespecting such a ancient and powerful blade. But knowing their relation and what to look for I could see those similarities between the two that shone through where most important. Looking at the histories of their swords I saw even more. And not just similarities in the design of their armor and the color of their hair. Or even the fact that they held the same blade.

Things like how they checked their allies wounds before tending their own. Chrom had checked over a younger blonde girl, likely his sister by the way they acted, the same white haired girl that had acted as a tactician during the battle, and even the large man who had been ever present at his side. He appeared to be a kind of bodyguard or handler. Someone to guarantee he survived even in the chaos of battle and to aid him outside of it. My theory on his purpose was supported because the whole time Chrom was inspecting others wounds this man was fussing over Chrom's.

Lucina herself seemed to be reigning herself in, whether to conceal her identity or merely as a part of the aloof persona she seemed to be constructing, however she did take the occasional glance at those who had been wounded during the fighting. Even following the blonde girl, a healer apparently, with her eyes while she went about her duties. The both of them also kept themselves in similar ready positions. Despite being relaxed Chrom's legs were tense enough that he could react and move quickly, and though her upper body was rigid her legs were lax enough that she could still move freely. Both had a hand on the pommel of their sword, despite Lucina's Falchion being seathed and Chrom's still an inch into the ground.

With their hand on the pommel they could draw their sword quickly but still didn't limit the ways they could draw it as you would by holding the grip. They even reacted the same to being approached from the back. Leaping forwards several feet and turning to face the surprise their swords were drawn before they landed. The biggest difference was that where Chrom had the blade in one hand to his side Lucina held hers in both hands perpendicular to her body and above her head. It was a stance that looked like the bastard child of one used to wielding a greatsword and a rapier. Though it did shock me just as much as them. What were they expecting, an attack? I mean what kind of assassin shouts hey before sneaking up on you?

"I think you two are wound a little too tight." I snarked at them. No matter how much I hated the bastard I did seem to be picking up more than just swords from Archer. The man had been Shirou Emiya after all, even if I would never become him the similarities between us would be vast. Like a funhouse mirror, despite being the same image the minor distortions between us mark all the difference.

"Shirou right?" Chrom called, recognizing me from our earlier short conservation. "I suppose the battle does have us a bit on edge. To see such monsters come out of nowhere in the middle of the night. Bandits are one thing but to be taken by surprise by such things as these. Maybe we should actually be a little more on guard."

"It was probably our fault to begin with." It was the white haired woman who spoke this time. I had noticed her giving orders on the battlefield earlier. She wasn't a commander or military officer based on her outfit, dark grey robes with a purple motif. And even if she was Chrom would've outsripped her in rank. A tactician then I suppose, a recent recruit too if her unfamiliarity with her allies meant anything. "We had no actual guard or night watch. We assumed we were too deep in allied territory to be attacked."

"And on the battlefield, assumptions get you killed." It was one of many lessons that Saber had driven into my head. It had only been reinforced by the experiences I had gained from Archer and my own time on the battlefield.

"Right, in the future we'll have to keep a night watch, no matter how safe our campsite may be an attack is always a possibility. The name's Robin by the way. Though I'm new I'm the Shepherd's tactician. From what I've been told the Shepherds are a knight order of Ylisse, dealing mainly in bandits and rural defence." As the now named Robin extended her hand she spoke and I grasped the proffered limb and gave my own name in return.

"Shirou Emiya. Though I didn't come over here to talk to you or Chrom, miss. It was actually you who I wanted to talk to." I turned to face the woman I knew was actually Lucina even as I spoke. I didn't voice her name for I knew she would be concealing her identity and instead allowed her to give me her chosen alias.

"Marth." It seemed she was even less prone to talking as 'Marth' than I was on the battlefield. But regardless this conversation had to happen, though most likely it would have to occur further from prying eyes like her father and the tactician.

"Of course your name is Marth." Marth, though not Falchion's first wielder he was one of the strongest and the most famous. He was also the last wielder to use the blade against a dragon on Grima's level slaying the dragon Medeus. Other dragons had fallen to the sword since but compared to Grima they were weak. It was like comparing an average Enforcer to a Servant. Sure, the Enforcer was strong and could slaughter any number of mundane people, but most Heroic Spirits could end any number of Enforcers just as easily. There was a reason why the overseer for the Grail Wars only worked to conceal the aftermath of the Servants' battles and not stop or limit them.

"Anyway Marth, I wanted to talk to you about your mission here. I was wondering if you were recruiting." It was there that I truly caught her attention. Before I was another variable, an unknown. She had never heard of me in her future. But based on the skill I had shown in the fight earlier she should have. I was strong enough to cut down Risen like grain. Though not rare that kind of strength was uncommon enough to warrant attention. Which meant I had either died or left the continent before shit started to go down. That marked me as an unknown. Something that could cause or solve problems with equal potency. And the best way to control unknown factors was to keep them close at hand.

I couldn't actually see much of her thought process, between her mask and iron posture. But the little I did see had me believing that her thoughts had turned much the same as my own. I knew the deal was sealed when she spoke again. "Follow me." Turning around she began to lead me into the forest surrounding the former battlefield. Putting a hand up to wave as a form of good bye to the Shepherd's I took a few quick steps to catch up before falling into pace several steps behind her.

It was several minutes of silence before my guide spoke up again. "Stop, here should be far enough that no one will hear us. Now, what is it that you know of my mission?" Now it was here that I had to tread carefully. I needed to accomplish two things, first was to make her understand and accept me as an ally. And the second was to make clear that my knowledge on the situation was as extensive as Falchion's history. Doing the both without damaging what little trust I may have by laying bare her secrets would be difficult. But, hopefully, not impossible.

"I know you are here to prevent Grima's resurrection, and I know that Marth isn't your real name, it's Lucina. But that's your story to tell not mine." Start slow, show some knowledge but also a willingness to keep it secret. Even with the little I had said I could sense her tensing. I wasn't some random swordsman with good skill and bad luck. I knew something, potentially a lot of things.

"And how exactly do you know that?" Her hand has shifted from her hip too her hilt. Not a good sign for me all things said.

"Despite my earlier performance I'm actually a magus. Though my own general skills are quite bad the few areas I specialize in I am quite skilled. There's really only three though, self-enhancement magic, reinforcement, a form of conjuration, creating temporary physical objects, that I call tracing, and a type of object reading that allows me to see an item's materials, creation and even its history, known as structural analysis. While I'm good with all three types of magic I really excel when I apply them to swords. I quite literally read your history from Falchion, and after comparing it with Chrom's I saw a very limited story of the future."

I could see her mulling it over. Her hand was less ready to draw her blade and more tapping the handle at thought now. It was when she saw me glancing at both the sword and her hand that she became conscious of it and stopped. "While that does explain how you know my name and objective it doesn't explain why you would want to help me. For someone from the future like me going into the past was a form of salvation. And not just in that it gave me a chance to save the world. But also that I myself was saved from that future. For someone from this time it's more of a suicidal mission. To try and stop a god."

It was a good point. Even with just the limited history I was getting from Falchion I could see so many battles and challenges ahead of us. More battles and deaths than most would see in a lifetime packed into a couple of years. But that was fine. My first memories were of fire and death. I was less than ten and yet I had seen more death than most people in the world ever would. That even applied in a world like this one, with considerably less peace than the one I came from. They would be my last memories too, as I wandered from battle to battle till I fell. Unknown to Death. Nor known to Life.

"For the same reason you do. You chose to abandon those few living people in the future in order to save everyone else in the past. I choose to save everyone in this world who would otherwise fall to Grima. Even if the cost of that choice is my own life." She almost lost to rage when I accused her of abandoning those in her future. It was only as I continued to speak did she calm. She still seemed a little peeved at the end but was disregarding that feeling.

"Fine then, if you so desire to fight by my side I'll allow it, but you follow my orders, I am in charge here and you will have to respect that. Understood." It shouldn't have surprised me that she wanted to be in charge. This was her mission, her nation, and her fight. I was an outsider, even more so than she knew. Still, subservience was a small price to pay for the extra knowledge both of this world and the future that she held. Falchion couldn't tell me everything. It was a sword after all, for all the battles it had fought it never sat in on a peace summit or alliance talks. Hadn't been there to guard against or slay every assassin. There were things the sword couldn't tell me, gaps that needed to be filled. So, I accepted her offer to the letter.

"Of course, commander." Alright, maybe I didn't quite follow the respect part. Though I will always blame Archer for my sarcasm.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thanks for all the support on the first chapter, I'd like to start by saying that Shirou will be following along side Lucina for most of the story up until Carrion Island, where Lucina herself joins the Shepherds in canon. I simply think that makes the more interesting story. I should also say that that does not mean we won't be seeing the Shepherds, Lucina simply shows up too often Awakening's story and there isn't much else for them to do as far as big or important battles go. I'd also like to reply to Garben The Berserker by name, while I may be wrong it was my belief that Grima was Medeus, the main enemy from Shadow Dragon, except known by a different name. I looked it up after I saw your review and I couldn't find anything marking them as the same dragon or anything marking them as explicitly different dragons. Keep in mind the games events are separated by 2,000 years, so them being the same dragon isn't a far shot. Anyway, thank you for all for the support and I hope you enjoy the second chapter.**

It didn't take long for my new 'commander' Lucina to decide on a course of action from here. She had been considering having me display some of my skills, just so that she would have a better understanding of my abilities, or heading to Ylisstol, the apparent capital of Ylisse the nation where I found myself, when I had asked if there would be any stragglers from our earlier battle with the Risen. From there we had backtracked to the site of the battle to search for a trail of some kind. Thankfully Chrom's group, the Shepherds, had already left so we wouldn't have to answer any questions they might have.

"So you've tracked Risen before right?" I threw the question out both in an attempt to fish for information and to start a conversation.

"Yes, though normally my goal is to avoid them, not find them. What about you, do you have any skills or magic that might be useful here?" If her question was any sign she seemed to want to know my skills every bit as much as I wanted to learn about the world I had found myself in.

"I've done quite a bit of tracking before, though never anything quite like Risen. " Normally with dead apostles and their ilk though I had tracked down a few Magical Beasts in the past, mostly Chimera's and failed or successful experiments by Sealing Designates. "I could use Structural Analysis to scan the ground for their foot prints, and I have several weapons that could aid in tracking them down." Hrunting was one, the sword would always point in the direction of its target and though it worked better against beasts it would work here. Though since our target was any Risen we had no way of knowing which ones it would track down, and the sword was a Noble Phantasm, one wielded by Beowulf. It would cost far too much to trace to just use as a glorified compass.

"What do you mean weapons? Do the swords you conjure have special abilities?" Ah, I had forgot that I hadn't explained that part. I had only ever given her an extremely simplified explanation of my magic. Well, no time like the present.

"The proper term is tracing, and it's actually a kind of amalgamation of two different spells. Structural Analysis and Gradient Air." Rather than amalgamation, bastardization would probably be a better term. I had created tracing myself by complete accident while trying to perform Gradient Air.

"Structural analysis was the one that let you read objects correct? You've never mentioned gradation air though." Seemed she was trying to learn my abilities. Good, if she wanted to command me in battle she would need an intimate understanding of my abilities.

"Yes, and I didn't mention gradation air, or projection, because despite being able to I never really use it. In essence it's an inferior version of tracing so I have no reason to. Tracing and projection both take an image in your mind and create a physical copy using prana, the energy I use for my magecraft. Tracing though requires a much more detailed image which is where structural analysis comes in." That was actually a big part of my creation of tracing. I had only learned four spells from Kiritsugu, structural analysis, reinforcement, alteration, and projection. When I started attempting projection I used my experience with reinforcement and alteration to do it. With both of those I had used structural analysis to find the ways in which the object was weak before either improving those or avoiding them so to not stress the object while altering it. So when I began projection I was trying to chopy everything I saw in an object with structural analysis. And I saw alot.

"Using a blueprint obtained from structural analysis I copy everything about an object. How it was made, the materials it was made from, and the experience it has accumulated. With that I can recreate a weapons abilities, even mystical ones, and the skill of it's past wielder."

"Can you do that with any weapon? And is it only weapons or do you choose only to trace weapons?" She was doing well actually, this was some pretty complex stuff, it had taken years for me to learn it all and it had taken Rin, the genius she was, several minutes to wrap her head around the abomination that was my magic. Though that may be because it flew in the face of everything she knew as common sense.

"There has only been on sword I have been unable to trace, and no, it's not Falchion." Ea wasn't even truly a sword. While any ordinary observer and even Gilgamesh himself would claim otherwise they didn't know swords like I do. And that thing was too alien to contain the concept of 'sword'. "And while it isn't only weapons I can trace anything else I need the object in front of me to do it. And even then it'll be far inferior and won't last as long." In the end my element and origin were sword, and while I could work with most any weapon the further you got from that concept the more it cost me and the less I got out of it. Shields were about my limit and I couldn't even trace armor.

"Alright, well do you want to trace one of your swords to find these Risen or do we use more standard methods to track them?" Back to the issue at hand I see. While I could trace Hrunting or another Noble Phantasm or even a Mystic Code there was one other method I wanted to try.

"I have one more idea actually." Stepping forwards I took a big sniff of the air and immediately found what I was looking for. When fighting them earlier I had no way to know if the scent was mystical or just naturally clung to their bodies but now with them so far away and the dead bodies having already dissolved into prana I could say for sure that what I was smelling was magical. Rotting flesh and a hint of dragon, probably a mix of their own signatures and the magic that had made them, Grima's. "Yes, this will work. Magus like myself are able to sense the magic of others as a type of sense. In my case smell, I couldn't be sure if it was a natural scent or not earlier but now I know, I can track them like this."

"Smell them?" She asked the question even as we began moving. "That's pretty strange you know. I've never heard of a mage like you before and you speak as if it's all normal to you." Well of course she had never heard of any of this, we probably used a completely different magical system to begin with. It was a miracle that my magic worked at all here.

"I guess I should make a distinction here, I'm not a mage, I'm a magus. I'm not sure how you're people do magic but where I'm from my magic, while strange, isn't unheard of. I'm not native to these parts or even this continent. It would be more surprisingly if my magic was familiar to you."

"Where are you from then? It must be very far since I know that Valm uses the same magic as we do here."

"Valm? That's the continent across the sea to the west right? The records I get from swords aren't all that concerned with politics or geography." That was a major reason that I needed Lucina's aid. This wasn't a one way relationship. I needed her as much as she needed me. If I had all the information I needed I'd just go out and track down the leaders of this whole thing, the few leaders responsible for resurrecting Grima and kill them. But I didn't know who was behind this or where to find them. I didn't even know if killing them would stop this whole thing or if they had contingency plans for contingency plans.

"That's right, Valm should be in turmoil now, Walhart will be well on his way to dominating the continent. If we weren't needed here I'd go there to at least limit the destruction." That was true, it was a habit of mine to spend a lot of time in war torn areas. There were simply so many opportunities to save lives even without joining either side of the war. Though normally I just assassinated one of the sides leaders and allowed peace to come. Nine times out of ten it worked and the tenth I just had to kill a few more leaders.

"Right, well I was born in Japan, a small island nation, I've been travelling the world for almost five years now and I'm not ashamed to say I've gotten lost several times now. Japan could be anywhere at this point, I really have no way to find it again but that doesn't bother me anyway."

"Truly, I would think losing your home and family would be significant to anyone. I know I miss my home and I even feel some small nostalgia for the future I left behind and my friends in it. Is there really nothing you miss?"

"Well it's not like I left any family behind, my parents died when I was young and my adoptive father died a few years later. I did have some friends but I know they'll be fine so I'm not concerned." Yeah, whatever family I had before the fire died in it along with any memories I had of them. And while I will always be grateful to Kiritsugu for picking me up he died long ago as well. I still remember the content smile he had on when he passed.

"Is that so, it's rather sad but I suppose I'm not one to talk of such things, my parents died when I was young as well so I suppose I can relate. Any idea how close we are to the Risen yet?" Looking ahead again I took another long whiff before mulling over the scent in my mind. Breaking through the treeline into some rather hilly plains I gave my estimate.

"Not far before we can see them, maybe if we get on top of one of these hills, though it'll be harder if they're in a valley right now." A hill would also make a good point to launch an attack from, the Risen from before had shown little skill so I had my doubts that any archers or mages among them would have any skill.

"Good, are all, magus? Magus so skilled at tracking magical beings?" I really shouldn't be surprised she was learning so much so quickly. The woman had been raised to rule a country and to lead an army. And while she hadn't lead either for long before their destruction she had still commanded a large group of survivors with very few casualties.

"No, while all magus can sense magic it can come as any of the five sense and vary in strength. Scent is a particularly useful one for tracking and my senses are some of the strongest I've seen." Rin had called me a bloodhound or made similar dog themed jokes more than a few times. My senses were just that good. I could have studied to become a field breaker, someone who specializes in removing wards, if I had anything left to study. Between Structural Analysis, my sense of smell, and Rule Breaker there was nothing to improve on. I could remove any mystical defense with the dagger and find out where to apply it with the other two.

"What of the weapons you possess then? Do you have any that you prefer or ones you cannot use?" This girl knew all the right questions. This can't have been the first time she had ascertained someone's abilities via interview. She was just too skilled at it.

"I can use most any weapon that I've seen, though almost always use Kanshou and Bakuya, twin short swords, to fight. Other than that I use a bow quite frequently as my main form of ranged attack. I would saw I'm quite skilled with it in fact." Archer's bow was a massive, if mundane, thing. It cost very little to trace as it wasn't actually a Noble Phantasm or even a Mystic Code. It was also durable enough to survive at short range and powerful enough to pierce almost anything. I could use anything from ordinary arrows or altered mundane swords to something like Hrunting or Caladbolg.

"Can you use your bow against these Risen then?" The question came as we crested the top of the hill. "It would be a good chance for me to get a better idea of your skill."

Scanning my now reinforced eyes across the horizon I gave her a reply. "Sure, it'll likely be the safest and most efficient way to kill them anyway. We won't have to approach them or even get within range of their weapons." It was at that, rather convenient, moment that I found my target, pointing with my hand I made my discovery known. "Over there fourth hill over they're climbing up the near side now."

Lucina took a moment looking for them before removing her mask for second to get a better look. While my eyes were still on the Risen as they lazily scaled the hill I could see her out of the corner of my eye. While she did resemble her father you could still see her softer more feminine features. It was actually the first time I had seen her face. It would not have been strange to see her hanging off the arm of some powerful noble or king. If not for the harsh future she had grown up in she might've been a courtly beauty, enchanting young men as the royal princess. Instead she was out here, in full armor and armed, prepared to kill or be killed. It truly was a harsh world.

"I can see them, but I don't understand how you found them in the first place. They're little more than black spots from so far away." It seemed that she had found them while I was lost in thought. It was no surprise she had trouble though. The Risen I had pointed out were just over 3 kilometers away.

"Reinforcement does more than make me stronger and faster, it's tricky and has to be done just right but I can reinforce my sense as well. I only really do it to my sight and hearing because it's useless for taste and touch and improving my nose doesn't actually improve my ability to sense magic. But in the right circumstance it can be very useful." Archer had been so skilled with reinforcement to count the nuts on the Fuyuki bridge from a similar distance. And while I wasn't at that level I had already passed what most magus Would accomplish with reinforcement in their lives. To be fair most didn't use renforcement anyway, choosing to use a less risky form of personal enhancement like runes for personal enhancement, and that was for the few who actually used such things. Most magus were more research oriented than combat.

"The more I hear about your magic the more useful it sounds." She turned my way as she noticed a flash of light. "What are you doing?" The question sounded bewildered and it made me turn to her for a moment.

"What? Is there a problem?"

"Is that your bow?" She pointed at weapon in my hands as she spoke. "It's taller than you are!"

"Yeah, it has to be that big to fire swords." Archer's bow was massive, I was just over six feet tall and the bow was taller than me. It needed that extra size to be able to fire things as heavy as some Noble Phantasms, and bigger still to get the kind of range me and Archer used with them.

"How are you going to hit them from here anyway? That thing is too big for you to carry around in the first place."

"That's why it's so useful to trace, I don't have to worry about lugging it or any other weapons around. Here just watch." As I spoke I drew the bow string part of the way back. I heard my commander start to say something before stopping and turning towards the risen. Archer's bow could launch objects with an insane amount of force, it was the only way to get something as heavy as a sword to have any range on it. Arcing my shot up I sought to limit my shot by aiming high. As a rule with projectiles launching an object at a 45 degree angle to the ground will give you them most distance with the object going the same distance the same number of degrees above and below that angle. Now this is an overly simplified way of doing things, in reality air resistance would change that and shooting above the 45 degree mark would increase the amount of time it's in the air increasing its susceptibility to wind and giving your target more time to see the coming attack and dodge.

With Archer's bow I had a lot of range to spare so I could shoot well above that mid point. I had faith in my ability to account for wind. There were three targets for me to take down and while since I was attacking by surprise so they would be alerted to the attack when my first one strikes. With the distance between us I could launch all three attacks before the first one lands so I wouldn't be giving them any more time to react by going high over low. Letting the arrows fall onto them would also make them less likely to find us if they did survive.

My course of action decided I traced an ordinary arrow into position. Though I call it an arrow it was actually a metal bolt, the type normally reserved for crossbows. Most wooden arrows actually split when launched from Archer's bow, the string cutting through their butts. Those that didn't would often break on impact. The steel bolt I traced worked far better for the bow in general.

Releasing my hand I let the bolt fly before quickly drawing the string back and launching two more bolts after some minor adjustments. All three attacks were launched in just under a second. I lowered my bow but didn't dismiss, just in case the Risen proved more durable than I was expecting. The first two had their heads pierced before even knowing they were under attack. The third had managed to turn its head skyward before suffering the same fate. I waited several seconds and when none of them moved I dismissed my weapon.

"Wait, did you hit one of them? It's too far for me to tell." I looked back at her and couldn't hold in a small smirk as I beheld the curious look on her face. She still hadn't put her mask back on and I definitely prefered being able to see some facial expressions on my commander to the stern look of the mask she wore.

"Oh I hit one alright." The amusement in my voice must have told her something because she glanced at me with a searching look before going back to the Risen. It was then that first one dissolved into prana, similar to how my weapons fade except instead of the blue polygons mine produced the Risen turned into a sort of black fog upon their death. It was then that I looked back at Lucina and saw just how far her jaw had dropped.

"Quite skilled you say. I doubt there's another archer on the continent who could make one of those shots but you made all three in an instant!" It had been about fifteen minutes since we had exterminated the group of Risen and Lucina was just starting to get coherent again. After I killed them she had shut up for a moment, put on her mask and starter walking. She hadn't responded to my questions so I had no choice but to follow.

"To be fair I doubt any other archer in the world has a bow that can even shoot an arrow that far." Archer's bow was special because of that. Even launching something many times heavier than a wooden arrow the bow could launc. The maximum range of the bow when firing a Noble Phantasm was four kilometers, with something lighter like the metal bolt I used its range would be was a reason why I didn't draw the bow all the way back.

"And I doubt anyone could make that shot even with that bow of yours. I mean what was that thing even made of?" She looked back at me even as she continued walking, we had reached a road now and were following. It was nothing fancy, dirt packed down by thousands of passing feet over the years but it was something to navigate with.

"No material you would have heard of, even in my homeland it was virtually unknown." Archer's bow was actually made from an undiscovered material. The material wouldn't be synthesised until later in my life and it was then that Archer had the bow crafted. It was one of the most useful weapons in the my arsenal which was saying something since it was also completely mundane.

"Hmph, regardless that just makes our next course of action even more necessary." Okay, now I was the one curious. She had told me nothing of her plans following our confrontation with the Risen. Too hysterical from what she saw as a miracle shot to explain her plans.

"And what course of action is that actually?" The question would have been snarkier but I was really just tired. When I had arrived here it had been shortly after midnight and I hadn't slept since the night before. Now the sun was fully over the horizon. It didn't help that I hadn't eaten in all that time either.

"We're heading to Ylisstol. I had already planned to go there to purchase supplies as well as a backup sword." That shouldn't have surprised me as much as it did. We did need supplies, food, water, sleeping rolls, healing salves and bandages. Lucina wouldn't need any whetstones, Falchion wouldn't dull like a normal blade and no normal whetstone would do anything to a sword made from a dragon's tooth. A backup sword did sound sensible, both as a last resort and another way to conceal her identity. But the way she worded it made it sound like there was more to get than just that.

"And what else do we need?" Voicing my inquiry I noted the previously dirt road was beginning to shift to cobblestone up ahead. It only made sense that the roads would be better kept closer to and inside of the capital.

"It's not us but you." There I rose an eyebrow. I really didn't need much. I could make do with just a canteen, I could hunt for food and trace any pots or pans I needed. I could sleep on the ground just fine and unless the weather turned cold the long sleeve button down shirt and denim jeans I had would be warm enough. Seeing the doubt on my face she continued. "You also need a weapon. Your magic is strange enough already, with that in addition to the weapons you create with it you'll be drawing way too much attention." She did have a point there. We needed to be subtle. If everyone knew about our goal then all the information we had on our enemies from the future would be worthless. They could easily change their plans or use our own knowledge to lure us or Chrom into a trap.

"What do you suggest then?" The way she brought it up she seemed to have a solution. And it wasn't like she wanted me to stop tracing or using magic. Just be more subtle about it and avoid it unless necessary. I would have likely taken several steps in the same direction myself without her input. Limiting the magic I use is a good way to increase the prana I have available. And concealing information from the enemy is always a good idea. And the best way to keep an ability secret is to avoid using it.

"The same as me, get a backup sword. Maybe a bow too but I'll leave that part to you. I'll give you some money when we reach town, find the both of us swords and meet me at the gates by noon. I'll take care of the rest of the supplies." That's actually a good idea. Beyond just concealing my own abilities having a sword to use before I start tracing would be a good way to save prana. Though against any stronger foes I'll probably have to go straight to Kanshou and Bakuya or another Noble Phantasm, this way I can defeat the rank and file opponent's with much less effort.

"That's a good idea, I don't think I'll get a bow though. Carrying it around would interfere with my movements too much and I can always just trace a more normal looking one. Plus I'd have to trace my arrows anyway." No, a bow wouldn't work. The sword would be nice though. That only left the question of what kind to get. "Are you sure you want me to get your sword as well though? Wouldn't you rather choose your own?"

"No, you should do it. I've never used a weapon other than Falchion before so someone else will probably do a better job of it." Here she smirked and feel the amusement in her eyes even with the mask on. "Besides, you yourself claimed to know swords like no other. Here's your chance to prove it."

"Oho, so that's how it is commander? Well fine then, I'll find you the best sword in all Ylisstol. Better even than that chipped tooth you call a blade." I heard her snort back at me and despite my short experience with the man it reminded me of her father Chrom.

"I look forward to it. Maybe with such a great sword at my side I won't even need annoying subordinates anymore." Ouch, I traded blows with the best of them, and no that doesn't mean Archer. He may have been snarky but he nor I could never match Luvia or Rin. Maybe it was something with the female gender. Or it could have just been a part or Shirou Emiya. I honestly had no way of knowing.

"Alright, alright. The gates by noon right?" I glanced to my side and seeing the nod I was looking for continued. "Okay, give me the money and I'll find them. Anything else I should know?"

"Yes, while some merchants may be selling arms and armor along the main street and in the marketplace you'll find the smithies and any attached shops in the eastern district." That was useful actually. While I could ask locals for direction or use structural analysis to discern the purpose of a building having my target areas from the beginning would be helpful. And it only made sense that Lucina would know the town's layout, she had been, or will be, raised here.

"Alright, thanks." It was then that one last thing occurred to me as I spied the city gates and walls on the horizon. "What should I call you while we're in town?" Lucina was going to great lengths to avoid her identity being discovered. Even if the odds of someone hearing her real name and remembering it for over a year for when the princess would be born were slim they were odds best avoided.

It seemed this had slipped her mind as well if her sudden pause was anything to go by. "Preferably Marth, but anything other than Lucina is fine."

"Understood commander." I said it in a mocking tone. While I did have little reservation in obeying her orders I would still mock her for it. "I'll meet you at noon with our new blades then."


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Chapter three is here and I'd like to talk about weapons. My decision to give Shirou and Lucina new weapons was based on a few things, most of these are given voice in Shirou's thoughts or his conversations with Lucina in this chapter or the last, however one of my biggest reasons is that if Shirou were to trace in every fight, or even use pretraced copies of Kanshou and Bakuya, then every fight with random soldiers or bandits would turn into him just steamrolling everyone. And that is what most of Fire Emblem is, fighting ordinary soldiers or weak monsters with the occasional boss. Things can still get interesting with mages and wyverns or pegasus in the mix but limiting Shirou's own strength in a realistic way helps a lot in my opinion. I do apologize for the info dump that was chapter two but I felt it was best to explain Shirou's abilities just so that everyone can be on the same page. As always thanks to everyone for your support and here is chapter three.**

Sighing I stepped out of another store, listening to the shopkeeper's half hearted words of gratitude as I departed. I had been searching the city for about an hour now and my original enthusiasm had faded. I had started by searching the marketplace. Most of the weapons there were overpriced and some were simply garbage disguised as a good blade by fancy metals or precious gemstones. Blades that were ceremonial at best and decorations at worst. Some were made by skilled or famed smiths across the world and others were powerful mystic codes. The Unlimited Blade Works had gotten quite a few useful additions, if only because they were much cheaper to produce than any Noble Phantasm.

And therein lied the problem. Lucina and I were, simply put, spoiled. Ever since I began wielding blades I had used the best. The first time I had traced a sword it had been Kanshou and Bakuya and ever since then though I hadn't always used Noble Phantasms I had used the very best of weapons. Most commonly Noble Phantasms though when I didn't they were still swords uniquely suited to the task. Lucina likewise had only ever wielded Falchion into battle. She had used other blades in spars or while practicing. Even learned to care for an armory's worth of swords. But in the end she too was used to the wielding only the most immaculate of weapons. And any blades of such quality were far above the budget Lucina had afforded me.

Lamenting the poor circumstances I had found myself in and steeling myself for the possibility that I may be forced to wield some rather poor blades in the future I entered another shop. "Morning, sir." The greeting from the man behind the counter was far from the first one I had recieved today, and while I could have brushed him off or ignored him altogether I was simply too polite for that.

"Good morning, I'm actually looking for a pair of swords today. One for me and one for a comrade." The large man stroked his stubbled chin as he listened. Even if I didn't know from the history of the weapons he had forged just looking at him would have told me he was a smith. Arms well accustomed to the weight of a hammer and steel. Arms and hands littered with scars from cuts or burns from mishaps made with forging. His swords were rather well made and while I doubted they would fail you on the battlefield they, along with most other blades simply fell short of my own and Lucina's standards.

"Hmm, well what kind of blades are you looking for? We'll see if I've got anything you might want." He wasn't the first to make that offer either, and while I had been happy at first for the prospect of discussing swords with another man so used to making them that had turned to disappointment when I learned just how impossible the task I had set for myself was.

"I'm honestly doubt you can. Nothing against your skills but I've been to most of the smithies in town and no one has been able to help. Our needs are just, rather unique." That too was true. Outside of quality the swords we would want were both rather strange. While Lucina would likely be satisfied by a steel sword of similar design to Falchion I didn't believe satisfaction would be enough. And my own blade would need to be something I could wield with my full skill as well. That meant similar to Kanshou or Bakuya as they were the blades I used most often.

"Hmm, that does seem like something of an issue. But I'm not going to give up till we've exhausted our options. Hell I could forge it myself if you can give me some details."

"I don't think that would work either to be honest. The swords we need aren't normally made around here and while you could certainly learn to make one we don't have that kind of time. And anything you can make quickly just won't be good enough. We're both rather spoiled when it comes to blades." I ran my hands through my hair as I scanned the shops weapons. The man was skilled but he was also used to making only european style weapons. Kanshou and Bakuya were chinese falchions and Lucina's sword would have to be something unusual as well due to her strange way of wielding Falchion. Treating it like a combination of a rapier and two handed broadsword. "Really, if I could just make them myself this would be much easier."

"Why don't you then?" The question made my head snap to the smith. "If you're a smith yourself I wouldn't mind lending you my forge for a while. I can sell you any metals or fuel you use as well."

"You would let a complete stranger use your forge?" That wasn't normal. Smiths had pride in their weapons and guarded the forge jealously. They were almost like magus in that sense, only letting family or apprentices in in most cases and guarding the smithing techniques they had learned carefully.

"So long as you'll let me watch, and teach me a bit about these weird swords you're gonna be forging. I can have my son watch the forge while you work. And it's not like I ain't gonna be making some money. I will be charging you market price for the iron you use." True, it wasn't rare for smiths to share techniques like magus do with their craft. Though normally that was the simpler stuff. And if he was charging market value for the iron and coal I'd need he would be making something off the exchange.

I had to admit the idea was tempting, extremely so. I had never really had the chance to try forging weapons before. I hadn't had the influence in Clock Tower to get a workshop large enough to have a smithy and in Fuyuki I would never have been able to conceal such a thing. The idea had always been tempting though. And now, here I was in need of a sword, two with Lucina's, and I had the chance to craft them myself.

"Alright, Shirou Emiya is the name." Turning my full body away from the weapons that littered the store I offered a hand to the man that forged or repaired almost all of them.

"James is my name, Shirou. I look forwards to doing business with you." James smiled as he spoke. It was a lopsided toothy thing as he let out a low chuckle. And I could feel myself reciprocate the gesture as he shook my hand.

"Likewise." Was my own shorter response. James turned towards a set of stairs as he let go of my hand and moved around the counter.

"David!" The yell was loud as he called for what I presumed to be the son he had mentioned.

"Yes Dad?" The question was voiced even as I heard boots stomping in a run on wood floors above my head. A young boy came flying down the stairs the smith had been observing. He looked to be around twelve and still growing. He had shaggy brown hair unlike his bald father and still had some baby fat on his face. The boy looked strong for his age and it was obvious he was being trained by his father.

"Watch the shop while me and Mister Emiya here go in the forge." The boy seemed a little surprised at that. He had probably expected to be sent to grab a weapon or material from the back or out into the town to perform some errand.

"What will the two of you be doing?" The child's curiosity peaked when he learned that we'd be going where the weapons were made.

"Mister Emiya here is going to be borrowing the forge to make the blades he needs. In exchange he's going to show me how he's making them. He claims they're going to a kind not made around here."

"Can I see too?" If it was possible it seemed the child got even more curious when he learned we'd be making a kind of blade even his father had not seen before.

"Sorry but I need you to watch the shop. Don't worry, once I figure it out I'll be sure to teach you." He patted the boy';s head as he walked by, heading towards a backdoor. "Come on Mister Emiya, I'm eager to see what kind of sword you'll be making first."

I followed the smith James out the door and into another room, this one made from stone and housing numerous tools, metals, both unrefined and ingots, as well as strips of leather for wrapping and handle, sheaths awaiting a sword, a pile of coal, and a large forge. "You can just call me Shirou. Do you mind starting to forge while I get some ingots together?"

"Sure can. Shirou. Which tools are you going to be using?" That was a good question. I'd start with my own blade so that I could avoid messing up on Lucina's. It would have to be a similar shape to Kanshou and Bakuya though it would also be longer to account for only using one blade. It would still be rather short in the end though, the shorter it was the easier it would be to draw quickly and the less it and the sheath would interfere with my movements.

"Other than the anvil and the quench tank, just some peen hammers and tongs. The sword will be small enough that we won't need a striker." Peen hammers were used to beat the metal into shape and strengthen it. The tongs would be used to hold it while working. The sword would have to sit on the anvil for us to be able to hit it with the peen hammer and the quench tank would be used while cooling the weapon.

"Okay then, feel free to use the ingots if you want, there should be some steel ones on the top shelf." Spying the ingots he had indicated I quickly used Structural Analyzation on them before grabbing two that were the right mix of iron and carbon. Steel was made by mixing the two in the right amounts. Them man starting the forge had created the ingots himself by mixing together coal and iron in the same forge we would be working now.

Setting the ingots by the forge I analyzed the forge and tools that James had procured this time. Waiting until the forge was the right temperature I threw in one of the ingots I had grabbed. "It'll be a full sized sword, if only barely, it will have a curved one sided blade. The curve of the blade will help it cut the enemy when thrown. The hilt will be almost nonexistent, the handguard being nothing more than a lack of a blade on its lower edge." I listed off my plans as I reviewed the blueprints of not just Kanshou and Bakuya but over a dozen other swords.

"Hmm, that sounds pretty minimalist, almost utilitarian. You sure you want a sword with no real guard? It'll make it harder to keep your fingers from being cut off. And with only one cutting edge you'll have to keep in mind which one it is whenever you're attacking if you want to actually hurt the guy you're fighting." I could tell the man knew his weapons by the questions he asked. But these were all concerns I had already thought of.

"It's fine without a guard. I don't lock weapons with my opponents in the first place and the curved edge will make blades slide off and away from my hands rather than hitting them, and with only one cutting edge I'll have the option of putting my off hand on the back of the blade to give me more leverage." Using the tongs to place an ingot into the forge I waited for it to heat. Several minutes later I pulled the hot metal out with the same tongs. Analyzing both the metal and the process of crafting Bakuya I grabbed a hammer and began to strike. While I couldn't recreate Kanshou or Bakuya of my own skill I could if I cheated. Experiencing the forging process as the smith rather than the blade was an unusual process but I got used to it fast.

Of course the process of making a sword took far longer than the several hours Lucina had given me. So instead of forging the sword through normal means I used alteration. By changing the nature of the metal as it was in a state of flux I had Gaia confused. It wasn't completely sure of the state of the metal I was working on so it allowed for me to slowly alter it as I manually shaped the metal. Grabbing the now recognizable sword I place it back into the forge to allow it heat back up before repeating the process of shaping it. It took several more repetitions before I dunked the sword in the quench tank allowing it to cool.

The blade was now ninety centimeters in length, with a shape similar in nature to Kanshou and Bakuya. The blade was colored like the steel it was and lacked the leather grip I would have to add. It was a blade that wouldn't lose in quality to any sword I had seen today, and it was shaped in a way to suit my needs specifically. But there was something missing, something else that could be done. Enchantments. While I had never made a mystic code myself before I held the experience of crafting hundreds before. Allowing first dozens then hundreds of enchanted blades to fly through my mind I sought one to emulate. While many would be impossible due to materials others were discarded because their effects weren't what I wanted. In the end the weapon that I found was Gae Bolg. The spear was crafted from the skull of a phantasmal beast by Scathach the Witch. While most of its effects came from the material is was made from or the legend it had gained there were still many runes that Scathach had added to it. Most of these were effects far beyond my ability to replicate but one I could emulate with some simplification.

"James, could I borrow a chisel actually?" The man snapped at my words, apparently he was just as enamoured with the crafting as I was. It took him a moment to process my words before he moved to shelf and grabbed one. Taking the chisel in my hands I took my time to mark and enchant each rune in the precise way. Rune magecraft was something that anyone could perform so long as they had circuits. By using the experiences of Scathach herself and countless other magus who specialized in runes I was able to chisel the desired runes into my new sword with little to no trouble. As I looked for a sheath to place the accompanying runes on I found James already holding one of the correct size. Taking it from him I used a small dagger the James had forged earlier in the week to scratch more runes on the sheath.

"Runes?" I turned towards James as he spoke, surprise evident on his face. He clearly didn't expect me to enchant my sword, or even be capable of magic.

"Yeah, the enchantment is a simple one. All it does is draw the sword to the sheath with greater strength as they get further apart. The pull is hardly noticeable until you get them a few meters apart. Though it does max out as it gets far away it's still strong enough to make the sword move easily." The idea was inspired by Kanshou and Bakuya and the enchantment came from Gae Bolg. One its lesser known effects was that the spear would return to its wielder after being thrown. I had taken the effect and simplified it by giving it a default target of its own sheath instead of something as vague as its wielder.

"I didn't realize you were a mage." Of course he didn't, I had never told him. Lucina wanted me to keep myself inconspicuous and my magic was about as normal as I was.

"It's the reason I didn't have a backup sword. I have my magic to fall back on so I don't carry around one." Though it was true that I didn't carry one sword it's not like I didn't have any. I carried a world of swords in my very soul after all. "That's why I was able to forge the sword so quickly too, I accelerated the changes with magic."

"Hmm, that's awfully convenient then. That's a good sword too, even without the enchantment." That it was, I almost felt some pride in the sword I had made with my own hands. But in the end pride was a worthless thing, one which Shirou Emiya did not possess.

"Yes, now for the second."

I was working on the finishing touches for Lucina's sword when me and James heard yelling from the store front. The fact that we could hear it despite being deafened by the sound of metal working spoke of its volume. James had just stood up to check on his son when the door to the smithy flew open.

"Shirou! Do you have any idea what time it is!" There standing in the doorway was a creature of nightmare. Cape flowing from the draft created by the door opening and masked face lit by the fires of the forge I knew true terror as my eyes set upon both the devilish being and the setting sun through the shop's window.

"Lu-er, Marth! I guess I lost track of what I was doing and um-"

"What the hell do you mean you lost track of time! I've been scouring the city for you ever since you didn't show at the gates. And I find you holed up in the back of a smithy doing Naga knows what!"

With one fist raised and the other grasping the hilt of Falchion I was beginning to fear for my safety. "Ah, when I couldn't find any swords good enough James here offered to let me borrow his forge to make some. And I guess since there's no windows in here we kind of lost the time."

Even with the mask on I noticed how Lucina's attention went first from me, to James, then finally to both the first sword on the anvil and the second sheathed on a workbench. "Well, show it to me then." It took me a moment to realise she meant the sword I had forged. "It better be every bit as good as the one you said you'd find if you put six extra hours into getting them." I could feel the anger in her disguised voice still. Now instead of flaming though it seemed to be simmering, I knew I would pay for it later but at least for now she wanted to see if the extra time put into acquiring the swords was worth it.

"S-sure." I spoke, still stuttering as I grabbed the sword from the anvil. The enchantment and forging had already been finished and me and James were just inspecting it before getting a sheath for it. "Your sword is a type known as a katana, it's longer than the hand and a half sword you're used to but because it's thinner it has about the same weight. It has a curved blade and only one edge to cut with. " I had decided to make a katana for her after carefully considering the way she used Falchion. A katana was a two handed sword that emphasised slashes. It would work well with the style she used because she could still trust the weight of the blade and use two hands to wield it but it was also designed for fast strikes which was a better balance for the way she fought than Falchion was. "I also added an enchantment to the blade itself. As it clashes with your opponents weapon it will absorb and store some of that energy. When activated by saying 'counter' it will release that force back out, the energy is released from the back of the blade pushing it forwards with extra strength."

I had actually been attempting to replicate the effects of Fragarach to a degree when I made the enchantment. Fragarach was the only Noble Phantasm I knew of that could be crafted in my world's current time. Even then though it was a long and complex process and required the blood of a Fraga, a clan of magus from Ireland, to be made. I had been unable to replicate most of its effects and its energy efficiency was awful but in the end it worked well. Though I had managed to use some of the energy it collected to repair and reinforce the blade. Katanas could be fragile if treated incorrectly and for Lucina to move from a blade that couldn't be damaged to one that would shatter against stone was asking for the worst.

Handing the sword to Lucina I saw her take the handle and begin testing its weight. James meanwhile went to get a sheath for the blade. "Why didn't you just make something closer to the sword I already have?"

"Because the way you use your current sword suits this one better. You fight like the blade should be lighter yet at the same time you're accustomed to the weight. That sword is designed to move quickly but still has a similar weight to your current one. And while it emphasises cutting stabs are still very viable." She seemed to regard the sword curiously, unsure of what to think. She moved again when James brought her a sheath. Putting the sword into the sheath and the sheath on her hip opposite to Falchion. Taking her action as a cue that we would be leaving I grabbed my own blade and a belt before securing it across the small of my back. It would interfere with my movements the least there and it was small enough to fit with very little of the sword poking out on either side of my back.

Turning to James I made to hand the pouch of gold coins I had received from Lucina to him. "No, keep your money. What you've taught me today is worth so much more." It seemed he intended to be generous with finances today. But that couldn't stand, he had done a great deal for me and I had to repay him.

"Still, you let a stranger into your forge and allowed me to use your tools and metals freely. And we got our swords out of the deal as well. You have to let me pay you."

"You already have, with how much I can make off of the techniques you showed me the steel you used is nothing." He laughed as he said it. Maybe he wasn't such a generous man after all, but he had still treated me kindly.

"Shirou," It was Lucina who spoke this time, whispering in my ear. "If you must repay him do so, but we do have limited resources." My commander was right. We didn't have very much money, and what we do have should be put to use. And if we can increase our budget by saving money on our swords we should. But I refused to give this man nothing.

Turning I grabbed a pen and several leafs of paper off the workbench my sword had been sitting on. The paper was used by James to keep track of his expenses and profits though he had been using it earlier to take notes on how I had made the two swords. Writing quickly I thanked the fact that Rin had forced me to learn to read and write english as well as speak it or else I would have been out of luck here. Before either of the other two in the room could ask me what I was doing I turned again and offered the paper to James.

"These are the runes I used on the enchantments earlier, as well as a brief explanation of what each does. Anyone can write the runes but you'll need a mage to activate them. Take this at least."

The look of surprise on the smith's face told me just how much he valued these notes. It only took him a few seconds to blink away the surprise and grab the paper, mindful of the wet ink.

"Well I can't refuse that can I?" He laughed as he eyed the paper. "Thank you Shirou, it's been a pleasure."

I smiled back as I shook his hand. "Likewise," was the only thing I had to say.

It was then that James' son, David, showed himself. He appeared in the doorway haggard looking and panting. He saw Lucina and flinched before looking to his father and talking. "Um, dad. I'm sorry I couldn't keep him out but he said it was really important. And when he, uh, when I said you were in the back with Mister Emiya he just ran past me."

His father's immediate response was to laugh before assuring his son. "It's fine David. It just appears that Shirou here missed his appointment." He chuckled again softly, giving me a look of pity. "I don't suppose you two would like to stay for dinner? My wife ought to be making a stew and I know how hungry a day of smithing can make a man."

Despite how tantalizing a hot meal sounded I held my tongue. Lucina was the one keeping a schedule and we had yet to go over any plans for the next few days so there may have been something important. Besides, in the end I had agreed to leave her in charge, meaning it wasn't my decisions in the first place. She didn't take long in her response anyway. "Sorry, but no matter how much we'd like to we're behind schedule enough as it is. We need to get moving and cover whatever ground we can tonight." Lamenting the loss of a hot meal and that I'd likely have a long night for the second time in a row I nodded at Lucina's words.

"Thanks for the offer but Marth is correct. It was good discussing smithing for a time, I hope we'll have the chance again." James smiled at that before responding himself.

"I'd like that as well. Next time you're in Ylisstol come see me. We'll make the next Falchion next time!" I laughed at the comment but I did notice how the reminder of her blade had Lucina impatient to leave.

"Till next time." I simply said as we exited the building.

"Till next time." Replied my new colleague in weaponcraft.

As we walked towards the northern gates Lucina spoke up again. "I didn't realize you could forge weapons."

"That's because I've never done it before." I heard her stumble at that and I was worried we'd have a repeat of this morning and my archery. "Though that's because I simply never had a reason before. The reason I was able to do it so well despite that was because every time I trace a weapon I have to recreate the forging in my mind. Enough practice like that and without knowing it I'd learned my way around a forge with no problems."

Lucina had caught herself by now and was simply rubbing her forehead as she spoke. "I swear, I don't know if it's you or where you come from but I swear your insanity will drive me crazy." I could only grin sheepishly and scratch my head at that. After all Rin had often claimed I'd drive her mad. So had Saber for that matter. Even Kiritsugu had claimed as much, maybe it was something about me? "Regardless of the outcome we are still behind schedule. We need to be in Ferox by tomorrow night. We'll have to be on the move most of the night though we should be able to afford a few hours of sleep before dawn."

Sighing myself as she confirmed my fears were confirmed. "Sorry, but I'd honestly rather carry only the best of steel into battle, and if that means taking the extra time to forge them myself I'd do it again. Though I should have noticed the time and at least told you what was happening."

"Fair enough but that does bring up another point." I looked over to her in curiosity. I had no idea where she was going with this. "I don't know about you but I need to get used to this sword before my life and the lives of others in on the line." I should have seen that coming actually. I chosen a katana because it suited her way of fighting better than Falchion, but that didn't mean she wouldn't need to adapt. My own sword was made to be as close to what I was used to as possible while still being efficient as a single sword as opposed to the dual wielding I prefered.

"That won't be as a problem for me, but I'll still need to practice. Perhaps some sparring when we stop for the night?" Lucina nodded and I took it as acceptance to my proposal. It was as we were exiting the city that Lucina posed another question.

"What are their names then?"

"Names?" I didn't know what she meant actually.

"Such fine blades need names for them right? So what are their names?" Ah, that. Despite the skill I had when forging them I had no such skill when it came to names.

"I'm not sure, do you have any ideas?" It was a last ditch effort to save the swords. Lucina may come up with something good after all.

"No, as the smith it is only proper that you choose their names yourself. You need to pick soon too, they cannot go unnamed for long." Well there went that plan. It seemed that the blades' fates were sealed.

"Bumeran and Kaunta, my sword and your own those are their names."

Lucina looked from me to the newly name Kaunta on her hip as we continued down the road. "Kaunta and Bumeran, eh? I had honestly been worried you'd be as bad at this as my cousin but it looks like my fears were unfounded." If I hadn't been mourning the steel I had just cursed I would have asked what she meant but as it was I didn't care enough. Though I spoke english fluently from my time in England I was still a native Japanese speaker. It was a last ditch effort to at least conceal my poor naming skills. But it didn't change the fact that I had just named our swords Counter and Boomerang.

 **AN: Shirou nor I are any good with names, so rather than giving the swords stupid names I gave them stupidly comedic names and made fun of my own incompetence.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I'm happy that the swords were received so well last chapter. And don't worry, the meaning of their names won't go unnoticed by other characters, it'll just take some time to come out. Also I based my sizes for Kanshou and Bakuya on their sizes respective to Excalibur, the only weapon I could find an official size for at 90cm, Kanshou and Bakuya are much shorter than Excalibur so I knew they couldn't be full sized one handed swords. Also falchions are in general shorter swords. As for how the curve effects the spinning, you're right that it wouldn't effect the spin, what I meant was that it'd change how the sword acts when it hits an opponent, a straight sword will only pierce into or bounce off while the curve lets it cut and slice much better. Now, as always thanks to everyone for supporting this story and I give you chapter 4.**

It was well into the night when we stopped moving and made camp. It was much colder out than it had been in Ylisstol. That was probably due to a combination of local climate and the lack of sunlight to heat the area during the night. Lucina had originally wanted to split the chores between us but I had offered to do them all myself so she would have a chance to familiarize herself with Kaunta.

That was how I found myself lugging several large logs, numerous small branches for kindling, and two wine sacks filled with water. Granted there was no way for me to retrieve it all in one trip but I managed to complete the tasks within half an hour and was sitting with a decent sized fire and a loaf of bread and dried meat for dinner. Lucina had purchased the food as well as medical supplies, our wine sacks, and two sleeping rolls while I was forging our swords. The food would sate my appetite but it was wholly unappealing fare. Next time we ate I'd have to cook something myself. I could probably hunt down a deer or some rabbits and cook those. Maybe even buy or forage some local herbs to season it with.

With my thoughts filled with food far better than what I was currently eating I barely noticed as Lucina sat down next to me, her mask removed for the night. I silently passed her some water and the bag of dried meats before breaking off one last piece of the bread before giving her the loaf. "Thank you Shirou." With the brief words of thanks she began to tear into the bread ravenously chasing it down with the meat and water. Evidently she was just as hungry as I was but also more used to dealing with the food. "You should eat more." Apparently she noticed my own disagreement even I as noted her tolerance. "I know it's bad but there won't be anything else to eat." She took another bite of the bread before continuing. "Even if we were to go hunting we have nothing to cook with. And I'm not skilled enough with cooking to make anything worth our time."

"You may not be but I am." Her head spun in my direction as I spoke. "I had to learn how to when I was young, my father was awful at it so it was learn or spend all our money and time eating out." Lucina was continuing to listen as I spoke of a time long ago. Before the Grail War, before Kiritsugu died. Other than the fire my earliest memories were days spent with the man. Though he was worthless in the kitchen and unskilled at any sort of chore he was the man who saved me from the fire. He had cared for me until his dying day and even after that had ensured I would be cared for. He had never wanted this life for me, having seen where this path ends himself he didn't want another to walk it. But it was the path I had chosen, I would do anything to follow it. Yet these hands will never hold anything. Shaking my head and myself out of my nostalgia I continued explaining myself to Lucina. "I can easily hunt something down with archery and I can trace any pots or pans that I need to cook. I can even trace utensils if you want." Turning back to Lucina I saw her own meal lay forgotten as she too had fallen to the prospects of better food. "That is assuming it would be an acceptable course of action commander?" I knew she would agree. The prospect of a hot meal was simply too tempting to pass up compared to this. But at the same time I couldn't pass up a chance to tease my superior.

"Yes!" The answer was all too fast and loud from the woman and seeing my smirk she realized that had been my intention. "Ah, er. Eh-hem, yes that is acceptable soldier Emiya. Starting tomorrow night you will be responsible for hunting down and preparing dinner in addition to your current duties." Aw, damn. I'd just gotten more chores hadn't I? Well at least part of it was cooking, I had always enjoyed it. It was unfortunate I wouldn't get to do the dishes as well as the traced cookware would just fade away when we were done.

"How is Kaunta treating you?" I turned the subject from one of expertises to the other. Swords and cooking were my two greatest skills after all.

"Well, you were correct that this, Katana correct?" At my nod she continued. "Katana style of sword suits me better than Falchion. It's just that," Here she paused, unsure either how to voice her concerns or how to avoid offending me with them. Fortunately I knew her concerns already and could do so for her.

"It's just not the same quality as Falchion." As she gave me an ashamed look and a nod I continued to speak. "I knew it wouldn't be, that's part of the reason I made it a Katana. By making it a different style of sword from Falchion you wouldn't try to do the same things with it." At her confused look I expanded on my statement. "Well, with Falchion you could probably, if not cut through, at least cut into stone without damaging the blade, correct?" She nodded though the confusion on her face had not lessened. "Well you can't do that with normal swords. In fact trying to do that with most swords will cause them to shatter. Kaunta would fare better due to the enchantment on it but you could still crack the blade. And while you likely knew that mentally it's hard to remember such things in the middle of battle."

"So by making it a different type of sword I wouldn't mistakenly attempt something impossible without Falchion?" She had understood that very well, this woman was almost definitely smarter than I am.

"Yes, though the fact that your style of fighting aligns with a katana just made my decision of what kind of sword easier." Seeing she hadn't gone back to eating the stale bread or dry meat I stood and began to walk away from the fire. "If you're done eating why don't we have that spar now?"

"Alright, but how should we do this then? If we fight with bare steel we risk wounding ourselves. But if we sheath our swords we won't learn their weights properly." Stroking my chin in thought I drew Bumeran. I hadn't considered such a thing, looking at the blade I thought through our options. While we could both strike with only flat edge both our blades were curved meaning it would make fighting even more awkward than if we had them sheathed. It was then that another idea came to mind.

"Trace on." Speaking my aria I allowed prana to flow, first through one of my circuits then into Bumeran. Alteration was a magecraft that I normally used either to sharpen a blade or turn them into arrows to fire from my bow. But I could also use it to dull a blade temporary, though normally less than useless here it would allow us to fight unhindered while the worst of our concerns would be sprains, and that was only if we were careless. "There, I used Alteration to make the blade dull." I said as I handed my sword to Lucina to inspect. "It shouldn't last longer than an hour and I can dipell it early if need be. Think this'll work if I apply it to your sword as well?" Inspecting the blade I watched as the woman in front of me ran her finger across the edge. While that would normally color the edge in red she failed to spill a drop of blood even when forcing her thumb into the blade.

Nodding as she stood Lucina gave her judgement. "Yes, this will work nicely." She drew Kaunta from her waist and handed me the blade. Quickly applying the same magic I had on Bumeran I handed her the katana even as she returned the shorter blade. "What will the rules be?" She spoke even as she raised her blade and backed away in preparation.

"Rather than fighting until a victor is determined we should go until we have a better idea of how to use our new swords. We can pause as necessary to rest and discuss tactics. If you have any question about Kaunta don't hesitate to ask."

Seeing her nod in response and position her sword above her head, temporarily dulled edge pointed up and tip pointed ahead she held both hands on the hilt. The stance looked much more natural with a katana in her hands than when she had Falchion. Taking my own stance I slide one foot back and raised Bumeran in front of my body. Hilt in my right hand and my left holding the blade near the tip to give more strength to each blow and block. I signaled to my opponents to begin when ready.

"Go!" The only warning I got was that shout before Lucina's blade sought out my neck. Blade coming from my upper left I moved Bumeran to block it as I turned to face the blade itself. Using the extra leverage from my extra hand I knocked the blade high before going under it and getting closer to Lucina. Rather than try to get my blade around to cut her as I closed I instead hit her in the gut with the pommel. Though she gasped in pain she didn't allow it to affect her stance or sword. She brought the blade onto my right this time but limited the strength behind it so that I couldn't launch her off balance again. Using the time she had gained she hopped back several steps and caught her breath. Rather than pursue her I instead took the chance to address her mistake.

"A katana is a blade the excels at range. Keep your opponent at blade length so you have room to stab and slash with impunity. Use your longer reach to your advantage." Taking on the role of an instructor I began to school Lucina in how to use the unfamiliar blade to its fullest potential. Though she gave me a strange look at first she nodded and set her stance again. Seeing that she was prepared to continue once again I returned to my own stance and charged her again. This time I found it much harder to get close. Whenever I circled her I would find a blade slashing at the side I was approaching from. If I pushed straight towards her I would find a sword tip poised to pierce my gut. I may have been too correct when I said she was suited to a katana. She took to it like a fish to water. She had even begun moving opposite to me, keeping distance even as I made some small headway against her.

My own blade was treating me well too. The extra strength I got from using two hands allowed me to match her attacks without reinforcement and the ability to release one hand should I need the blade to cover the other side of my body meant my defense was adaptable. But that still left me on the defensive in this bout and without resorting to Tracing a new sword or reinforcing myself I was hard pressed to counter Lucina's superior reach. Though I could out power her physically the reach of Kaunta gave her the leverage to negate that. The sheer volume of her attacks kept me from closing on her and with Kaunta's ability to accumulate and return force against its opponent I really didn't want a battle of attrition. It was fortunate, then, that everything about my style of fighting was meant to defeat superior opponents.

The biggest fault in the pattern that Lucina had fallen into to counter my advance was that it was, inherently, a pattern. And patterns could be predicted, and being predictable was a fatal weakness if you only knew how to exploit that weakness. Feinting right I charged straight at Lucina. It wasn't my first feint in the battle so I wasn't surprised when it did little but stall her stab by about a quarter of a second. That quarter of a second was all I needed to set my own blade in her path though. But instead of lying the blade to stop Kaunta I had Bumeran set at an angle. Allowing her sword to slide past me I continued to charge forwards. Though her sword was out of position she had learned the first time not to let any of her attacks or my blocks disrupt her footing bad enough that she couldn't retreat. That was also fine though. I had never intended to remove the distance between us, only prevent her from blocking my next attack. Drawing Bumeran back I threw the sword like a disc at Lucina. By the surprise on her face she hadn't been expecting me to discard my blade when it was the only one I'd have in this battle. While her sword was too far out of position to guard her her own limbs were still available. Making a quick decision she dropped Kaunta and drew her arms in front of her to block my projectile.

The dulled blade smacked against her arms before bouncing up and beginning to seek it sheath. Catching the blade out of the air I sheathed if before picking up Kaunta and moving to Lucina. "You really didn't hold back, did you Shirou?" She was rubbing her forearms as she spoke.

"If I held back then neither of us would learn would we?" The question was rhetorical so as my commander and recent victim mulled it over I grabbed one of her arms to inspect the wound. It was already turning and ugly purple color but it didn't seem to be getting any worse. "Looks like it's just a bad bruise, shall we stop here and treat it before we go to sleep?"

Wincing at my treatment of her wounds Lucina responded. "Yes, that would be for the best. There are some vulneraries in the bags, if we apply it not the bruises should be gone by morning." Indicating the two bags Lucina had bought in Ylisstol this morning with one hand she retrieved Kaunta from me with the other. Moving to the bags myself I opened one of them before pulling out a brown vial filled with a bitter smelling medicine. Returning to the wounded girl's side I poured a bit of the medicine onto each arm before Lucina began to rub it in herself. If her renewed wincing was anything to go by the medicine was probably as painful as it was foul smelling. "So, how do you think I did?"

"Very well all things considered. You learned the strengths and weaknesses of a katana quickly and were able to adapt your fighting style to suit them. You didn't over adjust your style either, staying close enough to what you knew to not hinder yourself." It was all very impressive actually. I could tell she had spent her life around swords, few others took to a new blade so easily. "Your biggest fault was that you fell into a pattern, and that allowed me to predict your reactions and use those reactions to my own advantage. Other than that you need to learn to use Kaunta's enchantment."

"Yes, I can see that now. I'm used to fighting Risen, not other people, and most Risen aren't smart enough to formulate a plan of attack. The few that are have always been a large enough threat to justify avoidance or an ambush. Sometimes even tag teaming them with allies." Sighing, she stopped rubbing her arms and moved back towards the fire. "As for Kaunta's effect I never knew when to trigger it, the battle was going to fast for me to set up an attack like that."

Trailing behind her on her way back to the fire I gave my own two cents. "I guess I should have expected that. Though you will need to work on your skills at dealing with intelligent foes. Grima won't be revived by Risen after all." Watching Lucina seat herself near the fire I instead moved towards our packs and began to retrieve our sleeping rolls. "As for Kaunta's effect that probably comes from never wielding a sword with an active effect before. You'll really just need to get used to the idea of having another method of attack and you should also remember that it can be used as more than an attack." Seeing her inquisitive look I continued my train of thought. "At the end, when your sword was too far out of position to block. Instead of dropping it you could've activated its effect and used the recoil from it to get back into position." Looking back down at the packs I was working at I removed one roll before tossing it to Lucina.

Nodding at my words Lucina caught the bed roll and began to spread it out before speaking up. "If you knew I could counter your attack then why did you throw away your sword in the first place? And what do you mean by active effect?"

Walking past the fire with my own bedding under one arm I spoke. "If you had thought of that and managed to pull it off with no practice then you would have deserved the victory. Besides, it would have cost you all the energy you had stored up during the match to that point, and I would only have had to avoid you long enough for Bumeran to seek out its sheath." Kneeling in the dirt around the fire I began to spread out my roll. "As for active effects, well. Magical swords can be split into two categories. Active effects and Passive effects. Active effects require certain conditions to do anything while passive are always working though you won't always notice them." Standing up I indicated the sword on near my waist and one of the two Lucina had removed from her hip in preparation to sleep. "Bumeran and Kaunta are examples of each actually. Kaunta has an active effect, though the only conditions to activate it are to say 'counter' and to have enough stored energy. Bumeran though will be drawn towards its sheath no matter what. It requires no activation and so long as the enchantment on neither the sword or sheath are damaged it will still work."

"Alright, is there anything else I should know about the match or Kaunta before we retire for the night?" She spoke as she removed her breastplate and shoulder guards. With her belt and cape already off that was the last of the metal armor she had on.

"Only to avoid overcharging the sword, there's a fine limit to how much energy it can store and if you exceed it the sword will start to break." It was a lot like reinforcement in that. After all not even Noble Phantasms could endure unlimited energy being flooded into them. It was no surprise that the steel sword would have similar, if lower limits.

"Okay then, I'll keep that in mind. Thank you though, Shirou. You've been a great help so far, between the sword everything you've taught me and even just having some company on this mission." The smile I received was as embarrassing as the words themselves. Scratching my cheek I tried to hide my embarrassment by turning away and working on my bedding again.

"It's nothing. I decided myself that I wanted to help you with your mission, and a part of that is ensuring that we're both as well equipped as possible to deal with any threats. Besides, how could I do anything but my best for my commander?"

My response earned me a short chuckle from the girl. "Goodnight, Shirou."

"G'night, commander."

It was just as the sun was peaking over the horizon that I noticed my travelling companion stir. "Rise and shine commander, suns out." Hearing my call Lucina moved significantly more this time. Pulling herself out of her bed roll with a groan she rubbed her head as she blinked away the sleep.

"Shirou? How long have you been awake?" Her confusion at my activities was as obvious as it was warranted. After all despite how little sleep the both of us had gotten last night and the night before yet I was up and active now despite the sun having only begin to rise. You could tell I'd been awake for some time since I had managed to clean up most of camp and was even now caring for Bumeran as I ate some dried meat for breakfast. The only things remaining to be stowed for travel was Lucina's own bedroll, her armor, and her swords.

"Only half an hour or so, I'm used to getting up early, a habit of mine. So despite the circumstances I got up early so I practice my magic." It was a routine I had fallen in back when Kiritsugu was still alive. I would rise early to practice magecraft in my workshop. Though I call it a workshop in reality it was nothing more than a tool shed with some noise concealment bounded fields.

"Your magic? What kind of practice would that be then?" Lucina voiced the question as she stood and stretched. "Studying new swords, discovering new spells, something along those lines?"

Sheathing Bumeran and stowing the oils and rags I had been treating it with I couldn't help but laugh at the ideas she had presented. "Nothing so complex, just simple repetition."

"Repetition?" Looking back at me even as she fiddled with the straps on her armor Lucina asked for me to expand my statement.

Rather than explain I instead decided to demonstrate. "Trace on." As I spoke the words a steady flow of prana trickled through one of my circuits. Almost immediately I forced the prana into the shape in my mind. Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in my hands for an instant before I released them, the blades quickly being replaced by Kaunta. Next was Falchion before that too was released and replaced by Hrunting. Deactivating the lone circuit I had turned on I addressed my commander even as she hung the very swords I had traced earlier onto her belt. "That's what I mean. As a combat oriented magus I need to be able to use my magic as fast as possible and with minimum concentration. So I need to use it as much as possible to get used to it. It's the same as swinging your sword hundreds of times until you can perfect the movement subconsciously."

Looking back to my leader I saw her adjusting her mask in preparation for the day ahead. "Actually, what is our goal today? You mentioned Ferox yesterday but never why we were heading there. Ferox was Ylisse's ally in," pulling the history I had from Lucina's Falchion to the front of my mind I reviewed what it mentioned on the nation. "lots of battles. Right?"

Lucina looked towards me, and though I wanted to say it was an odd look she was giving me I couldn't be sure with the mask on. "Yes, and we're going to ensure that doesn't change. Having Regna Ferox as an ally is too important to leave to chance and there's nothing else pressing to deal with for now." As she finished talking the now masked swords'man' grabbed her pack and began walking. Following her lead I picked up the second pack and followed.

"And how exactly are we planning to do that?" Looking towards the northern horizon I noted some rather large clouds, the looks of them had me concerned that we'd be getting snowed on today. "It's not like we can tell them anything about the future so how are we supposed to convince them to make the alliance?"

"With force." The answer I got almost had me tripping over my own feet. And it was only the fact that Lucina had yet to stop talking that kept me from demanding an explanation. "The Feroxi respect strength and skill above all else. Ferox is actually a diarchy, meaning they have two rulers rather than one. However one of those two is dominant over the other. They each rule half of Ferox, East and West, the true ruler is decided in a grand fighting tournament at Arena Ferox, the next one will be held in a few days." As she spoke Lucina pulled a map I hadn't known we had out of one of her pack's side pockets. As she unrolled it I noted the lack of much detail, only noting more famed geographic landmarks cities and larger villages and the main roads connecting them. "The tournament is broken into two brackets, one for East and one for West, with the champions of each side facing each other to determine whether Khan East or Khan West will lead in the coming years. The tournament can be deadly though, so to avoid blood feuds only foreigners are allowed to participate. Mostly mercenaries offering their services to the Khans or Knights who want the honour of being named victor."

Stroking my chin I mulled over what she had said, allowing my thoughts to form words as I combined this new information with what I knew of Chrom's time wielding Lucina's Falchion. "So Chrom and the Shepherds fought in the tournament. And the one Chrom fought in the finals was, Lon'qu representative of the West." Falchion had recorded the fight very accurately, Lon'qu having been a skilled enough foe for his name and title to make its way into the sword's history. The man had actually used a sword similar to a katana which made me wonder if there was a nation similar to Japan here. "So we need the Kahn East to win the tournament then right? So we enter on their behalf?" Fairly sure I had pieced together I looked towards my leader to see her shaking her head.

"No, we enter for the Kahn West, that way we can ensure that Chrom wins the finals for the East Kahn and she'll be indebted to him rather than some random mercenaries like us." That made sense, while I didn't know what kind of person the East Khan was her relationship with Chrom and Ylisse began with this tournament. Should Chrom lose it in this timeline she may not respect him enough to stand by his side in battle. She could falter at the most inopportune time. I was actually surprised that Lucina would rig the tournament like that though, she gave off a very honourable leader sort of image. Though I suppose that where she came from things like honor and pride would have to disregarded every so often to survive.

"This seems like a lot to go through just to ensure an alliance is established that is already more than likely to occur." It was the one thing that still confused me here, she had been in a rush to get going last night, emphasising that we were behind schedule. Plus ranking highly in the tournament would garner the very attention we were trying to avoid and put us very close to the Shepherds for the duration of the tournament, creating the possibility of an information leak directly to those we needed to avoid tipping off. All for what, so she or I could lose a fight against Chrom. "Oh, I get it." The smirk on my face was probably a mirror of Archer's own and I would have been more upset about that if I wasn't about to enjoy this so much. Apparently something in my voice had tipped Lucina off as well because she was already looking at me rather than the map in her hands when I spoke next. "You just want the chance to fight your dad." If I hadn't been sure of my theory before the look of indignation visible even with her mask on and the blush spreading across her face.

"N-no!" The shout was sudden and loud, but I had been expecting this kind of response so rather than flinching back my smirk merely grew. Years with Rin had made me rather vindictive and I wouldn't deny I enjoyed it. Whirling on me our walk north halted for the time she continued. "This is a serious mission, the alliance with Ferox is of the utmost importance and you need to take this seriously!" Rather than concern for myself in front of my commander's rage I was only worried she'd damage our new map clenching her hands like that.

"Yeah, the alliance with Ferox is important. But it's also something that is going to happen regardless of what we do. And fighting in the tournament may draw unwanted attention to us, the only thing we actually gain by going would be reward money and the chance to fight." The money actually could have been her reason for going, we didn't have much and there was a lot that you could get done with some gold. But if that was the case there were other ways to earn it and she would have no reason to hide it from me. "It's fine if you want the chance to fight Chrom, actually a chance to see how the Shepherds fight would be good, always nice to know your allies abilities." That had her caught on her back foot, it doesn't seem she had expected me to rationalize her desire to fight her father. In fact her reasons were likely more personal than utilitarian. Probably something about proving her strength or seeing how well she's grown since Chrom died in her future. But I didn't really care about that, if it would help her feel more at ease in this time and do her job better than I had no qualms with her plan.

Sighing herself Lucina turned forwards and resumed walking as she spoke. "Yes, I do want the chance to fight my Father. I never got the chance to see him at his best, he suffered a crippling wound before I was born and never fully recovered. And while that didn't stop him from teaching me to wield a blade he died when I was young." Her eyes went down to the map in her grasp and after smoothing out the crumpled paper she folded it so to store it in her pack. "And now, when I come to this time and meet him I see his true skill. He's stronger than I had expected, despite my time against the Risen I hesitate to call myself his equal in skill."

"Don't be so unsure of yourself. From what I see in Falchion you are his better, if only by the smallest of margins." Though my eyes were locked on the horizon with thoughts swords and battles in my head I could feel Lucina's gaze on me. "He may be a little stronger than you are but you're faster. And Chrom doesn't always keep his cool, he's swung Falchion in rage a fair number of times. You have a more level head than him, keep it that way and you could even defeat your father."

"Thank you, Shirou, for your words." Taking my eyes off the northern sky I looked to my commander. "They give me the confidence I need."

Scoffing at her words I spoke. "I'm only being honest. Of the two wielders of Falchion you are the more skilled, but if you want to stay that way you'd better not slack off." I laughed with her on that last part, while it was true that Chrom would only grow stronger in the future I knew Lucina better than the time we had spent together warranted. A part of that was from Falchion, but it was also the same reason why me and Rin grew so close so fast, why I knew and respected Saber so well despite only knowing her for a week. LIfe and death battle really does bring people together. And while we hadn't fought anything particularly dangerous yet we knew we would, and that to survive those battles we'd have to trust each other.

"So, the plan is to fight in the tournament for Kahn West, make our way to the finals before giving Chrom the fight of his life. If necessary we throw the fight to endure Chrom can be allied to Kahn East." It was all told a simple plan, it didn't need to be complex though, our goal was simple and should be easy to achieve.

"Yes, it's a crude plan, but that's all that will be necessary. From there we can start dealing with the real threats." My commander unknowingly echoed my own thoughts. Though she did raise a point I had been rather curious about.

"Yeah, what threats are those exactly?" The blank look she was giving me had me on the back foot but there was little I could do about that. "I mean, I know about the war with Plegia and Grangel, its current king. I know about the war with Valm and Walhart the Conqueror. And I know about his battle against Validar. But that's all I know, that and a few battles that occur." It wasn't normal for a sword to be concerned with politics. And even those ceremonial swords that had such records never recorded the politics or plots. of enemy nations. Maybe a sword would say why a battle happens but never in great detail. I mean, I knew Emmeryn, Exalt of Ylisstol would be assassinated, but not by whom or when or where.

"Then what was that big act you put on the other day? The whole, 'I know who you are Lucina and I know the future you came to stop'? Wait Validar, who's Validar?" I blinked at her impression of me, all she had done was change her voice, similar to what she did as 'Marth', and speak as flatly as possible. That couldn't be what I sounded like, right?

"I told you the future I saw was limited right? And most of what I did see had to do with Chrom's own actions. That kind of stuff doesn't help outside of knowing the big picture. And Validar? You know, evil magus, cultist who is responsible for reviving Grima?" The sheer surprise that Lucina felt at my words was almost palpable. She reared on my and grabbed my arms before I could get over my own shock.

"You know who it is that revives Grima?" I did, yes, though now I suppose Lucina hadn't. "This Validar, where is he? How can we stop him? We can end this now!" Recovering myself I grabbed the girl in front of me by the shoulders and pushed her off before sighing.

"Yes, I am fairly certain that Validar is the one responsible for reviving Grima. But outside of knowing that he's a cultist and uses some kind of curse based magecraft to fight I know nothing about him. He could be anywhere doing anything and even if we do find him and kill him we have no idea what kind of contingencies he has." Seeing that the shock Lucina was emitting had been mostly reduced and replaced by confusion I continued speaking. "A man like Validar won't care about his own life, he'll want to revive Grima no matter the cost. He'll have plans in case of his own death, he might even have plans that rely on his death. Rather than tracking him down and wasting our time we're better off setting ourselves up to defeat him and any of his plans later as well as preventing those plans as they occur. If we do kill him than any knowledge we have on him and his schemes becomes useless since it'll all change."

Seeing the Lucina had calmed down I let go of her and took a step back to give her room. "Alright then, I guess that's more than I knew before at least, even if there isn't much we can do with it." As she continued walking she glanced back at me as I followed. "As for our long term plans there's a few events we need to be especially concerned with. Exalt Emmeryn is assassinated in just under a month's time, that along with the wound my Father receives at the time need to be avoided. After that we need to make sure the war with Valm passes with as few casualties as possible. The Shepherds will be ambushed by Risen on Carrion Isle and during the war with Vlam we'll need to ensure Basilio the West Kahn survives his encounter with Walhart. From there we'll have changed too much for my knowledge to be accurate."

The sheer amount of information I had just been given had me a little dizzy, but I did my best to digest it. "And during all this time we also have to be looking for your other companions. Actually how many people came back with you?"

"Including myself? Thirteen of us came back, though I have no idea where or even when they arrived. Naga told us that she couldn't be sure when we arrived, sending us back at all was going to be hard on her." Processing the fact that Lucina and twelve others had been sent through time and space by a dragon capable of True Magic was only possible due to my own experiences. Though it was not made easier by everything else that had just been revealed to me.

"And we're also going to be taking responsibility for reducing the number of Risen wandering around and reducing casualties on both sides of both wars." I'd call it an impossible task but compared to the foolish ideal I held before the Grail War it would be easy. Hell, the only difference between it and my normal practices of hunting down Dead Apostles and stopping wars was the hidden objectives and allies to find. With the extra help I'd receive and the lack of gunfire I'd be dodging it may be easier. Running my hand through my hair and sighing it seemed I'd been taking this pose more and more frequently soon. And the trend wasn't likely to stop either.

"Yes, I never said it'd be an easy task, I won't stop you from leaving." The words caught me by surprise, the were cold and bitter, and most of all lonely. They reminded me of Him.

Scoffing I spoke in a tone far warmer than her own but no less serious. "I'm not that easy to get rid of. Besides, if I gave up on this I'd stop being 'Shirou Emiya'." Though I could feel the words relax my commander the wording of them also seemed to confuse her. I suppose that made sense I suppose, for anyone else it would be a weird thing to say, to imply that you can stop being yourself. She let the topic drop though and merely continued to walk in silence. Following her I looked towards the horizon and the gathering clouds. Thinking of the short sleeved collared shirt and jeans I wore I really hoped it wouldn't be snowing.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I'm back with the next chapter of Awakening to Battle. Sorry about how much longer this one took, but I was busier over the last two weeks and FE Heroes coming out didn't help. I'd like to thank the guest, The Strongest Sword Nitpicker for doing quite a bit of my research for me and correcting me on the lengths of Kanshou, Bakuya, and Excalibur. I've gone back and edited chapter 3 to fix my mistake. Also I can see why people think Lucina is opening up to Shirou too fast, part of that is because she's so used to having allies to support her and now she only has Shirou and part of it is because I only have two characters to work with most of the time so I may be developing them too quickly. Finally I'm gonna try to be more regular with my updates once again but my previous pace may prove impossible to maintain so updates will be slower but I'll try to prevent another two week plus gap. Thank you all for the support and reviews and I give you Chapter 5 of Awakening to Battle.**

I cursed both the weather and the lack of warm clothes once again as I trudged through the snow covered path, following half a step behind and to the left of my commander. While the right side was the more deferential position and the one that a subordinate would normally take the left was the more battle ready, it was more difficult for one to defend their left flank than their right after all. Though there were some exceptions to this rule, such as left handed swordsman and dual wielders or shield bearers Lucina fit in none of these categories. Most would say I was being paranoid but I don't think it counted when there really would be a zombie apocalypse. We had been making good progress throughout the day, and even through the gray snow clouds overhead the sun could be tracked to be almost directly overhead. Glancing over to my fellow traveling companion I saw her doing far better than I was. Her armor though light was mostly leather and significantly warmer than my own cotton shirt. The cape she had wrapped around her was more than ornamental as it seemed to keep the wind and snow off of her. She had told me several hours ago that we would be arriving at the border sometime around noon and though the snow may have altered her estimate it still shouldn't be long before we start approaching it. In fact that may be it now, reinforcing my eyes I stared at the very edge of the horizon, noting what I had once thought to be a cliff side or some kind of natural rock formation was actually a large wall.

The wall itself was not ornate like those of Ylisstol, lacking the sculpted parapets and only having a severals flags flying, identifying the realm of Ferox, the Khan of East Ferox, and the regiment occupying the fort. The defenses were perfectly efficient, nothing gaudy or unnecessary, the iron gate simple, the kill holes unadorned and hidden. "Marth," I spoke out, addressing my self imposed commander by her false name, "I can see the border fort. What are we doing?"

Lucina didn't seem surprised at my discovery, she probably remembered my exceptional sight from my demonstration on the Risen. "We approach the gates and ask for access, if they ask why we want in we tell them we want to fight in the tournament. If they ask who we are we tell them we're mercenaries. The worst we can expect is to be challenged to a duel and even then they'll let us through if we win." Nodding along with her words as we continued to move I continued to analyze the border fort. Not with magic granted but merely with my own eyes. Everything about the fort was efficient, it all had a purpose. Nothing unnecessary or excess, it reminded me of Kanshou and Bakuya, my favored blades. It reminded me of myself, created only to achieve its goal, not desiring fame or renown but only to achieve its purpose. It was then that I noticed something else about the fort.

"Marth, exactly how long is this fort?" Despite getting close enough that even the bottom of the walls were visible I couldn't see either end of them. While I couldn't tell just how tall the walls were due to the distance the section of wall I could see was many many times longer than they were tall.

"The Longfort, as it is appropriately named, runs the entire length of the Feroxi-Ylisstol border. It was built that way to keep invaders out as the more fractured tribes of Ferox were often susceptible to invaders. Having one unified border with outsiders and a fort on that border made it much easier for warring groups to unite against any mutual enemies." The entire border, that must be hundreds of kilometers long. It was something comparable to the Great Wall of China in my own world, and that could be seen from space. I wager if I stand on top of it here I still wouldn't be able to see either end of it. I was so glad I hadn't tried to analyze it, just attempting it would likely destroy my brain. By the root, the thing itself was probably a Noble Phantasm, I had no way of knowing for sure since its effects wouldn't show themselves unless I either analyzed it or someone capable of wielding it as a Heroic Spirit showed up. There were probably a fair number of Servants that could call upon, architects and builders who made it, commanders and kings who defended it. But none would be showing themselves here.

"No wonder you never suggested going around it, even if we did need to cross illegally we would have to get through it somehow." I rubbed my head at the prospect of something so huge. It was unimaginable, I question how they even managed to field the soldiers to garrison the thing. Not to mention supplies and maintenance, the logistics of it was mind boggling.

It was as we came within the last dozen meters that we were addressed by the garrison. "Halt and state your business!" It surprised me that the one questioning us was a woman. I had assumed by Lucina's choice to disguise herself as a male meant that this world still had problems of gender equality. Though that assumption may be false considering the military officer in charge here as well as the East Khan's own feminine gender. Perhaps it was something in Ferox, though Ylisstol's own ruler was also a woman.

Lucina took another step forward before stopping, separating herself from me to identify her as the leader. She then looked up to the garrison commander before speaking. While earlier I hadn't been sure just how high the walls were, now, with them in front of me, I could say they were somewhere between fourteen and fifteen meters tall. Well above average height compared to the old castles of my own world. "My companion and I are mercenaries who seek to participate in the tournament at Arena Ferox!" Though the armored woman on the wall's lugs were something impressive Lucina's were even stronger if she could speak so loudly. I suppose it was only natural for military officers in a time before radio communication to have powerful lungs, between the exertion of battle and the strain of shouting commands it would be necessary.

"You are late! The tournament begins tomorrow morning, you will need to prove yourself now if you wish to participate!" We're late? But Lucina said that the Shepherds wouldn't be arriving until later in the day, if we are late now how did they get in after us. Ah, wait. She said we needed to prove ourselves. Chrom had to fight the border guard before they let him in, they must have decided he was strong enough for last minute entrance after that. It looks like the duel Lucina had predicted may just occur.

"And how shall we do that!?" Lucina's response was just as loud as her first statement and I was glad I had not yet reinforced my ears in case of battle else they'd likely be ringing by now. Regardless I placed my right hand on the hilt of Bumeran by my side and reinforced my body in preparation. While Lucina did say it would likely be a duel there was always the possibility of an even more violent response. And being caught by surprise could be fatal.

The woman standing guard paused for a moment, likely considering what she would do. It was only because my eyes were still reinforced that I noticed the way she took in my stance before speaking. "Why don't you try to force your way through then! If you can't then you'd never have won the tournament anyway!" Though I had been prepared for such a response I had not expected it. Even with my magic I wouldn't be capable of breaking through the fort without relying on stealth or some of my more powerful and destructive Noble Phantasms. "Lancers! Attack!" Regardless I would have to try it seems. As she spoke I glanced towards Lucina and saw her caught off guard. Her hand hadn't even gripped either of her blades yet, she had probably been more confidant in her expectations than I was and so more surprised when the garrison commander had failed to meet them. As I glanced back ahead I noted eight armored figures with javelins already being thrown. Dashing forwards on reinforced legs I placed myself in front of Lucina, prepared to defend the woman. The attacks were staggered, in four sets of two lances each. While the first were targeting me they also missed because I had moved faster than they had anticipated. The second pair were deflected by a two quick flicks of my wrist and the side of my sword. It was then that my reinforced hearing caught the crunch of snow and the hiss of steel as my commander moved away and to my right. Based on the length of the hiss I'd have to say she was drawing Kaunta, the longer sword producing a more drawn out sound.

Then the third volley came, I countered these by throwing Bumeran at the first and allowing it to bounce off of it to hit the second. Now bereft of a weapon to defend myself I would normally Trace a new one. However here that wasn't an option. If I were to display my magic here then surely these soldiers superiors would hear about my skills. If they are as exotic as Lucina claims then the information could reach the ears of the Khans themselves, as well as may other attendants to the tournament. Then they would expect me to use that magic, making any fight I lose without using it extremely suspect. I couldn't afford that. I know I can beat Chrom with my magic, with ease as well. Not to mention the potential information leak to the enemy. So I had to get my weapon another way. Analyzing the spears while they were in flight was easy, in fact I did it subconsciously for most any weapon. Judging the timing to duck underneath the point of the first blade was no more challenging. And catching that same spear out of the air before using it to deflect the last lance was difficult but nothing compared to tracking and manipulating several copies of Kanshou and Bakuya in the middle of a fight.

Ending my defense with the nameless spear in my hands and my own blade still out of reach I noted Lucina was defending herself from almost a dozen archers as she attempted to dance out of their reach. Looking back to the spear in my hands I formulated a strategy. All told it was a probably a stupid idea, something that Rin would skin me for if she found out. Luckily she wasn't here. Drawing on the skills of the man that had thrown the weapon on me I took a thrower's stance as I readied the weapon. Using the history of the weapon I recreated every ounce of skill the man had, it was a fine skill he had, mastered over countless hours of training and hundreds of throws of this weapon and many others. It was a soldier's toss, neat and uniform and I had learned it just by holding his weapon.

Then I made it sloppy. For this to work I needed my enemy to think that I didn't know how to throw a spear. That I was brute forcing this and adjusting as I went. With my arms reinforced past what was normally possible for a human and the lance strengthened to survive the impact I threw the weapon. It went almost halfway up the wall before sinking a third of its length in, leaving just under a meter of the shaft exposed. I also saw that I had caught the enemy commander's attention with that throw. She regarded me coolly, probably waiting to see what I'd try next. I didn't keep her waiting long, grabbing another of the thrown weapons off the ground before preparing to throw again.

"Archers! Change Target!" The command came just as I threw the second spear, this one going several meters higher and a little to the side of my previous throw. It seems that despite my shoddy throw she had deemed me the greater threat since I was capable of using ranged attacks. It was as I drew the third spear out of the ground it had planted itself in that the dozen bowmen that had previously been firing at Lucina loosed a volley my way. Unlike the lancer who had staggered their attack the archers fired all at one time, some aiming around me rather than for me in case I tried to dodge. That too was fine, while I would have been capable of finishing my job faster without the new attention it also meant I didn't need to worry about Lucina getting stuck with an arrow while I worked on a way up the walls.

While their spread was useful for hitting a single target or dealing damage to a group it also meant that the larger the area they cover the more likely there were to be areas that went without being stricken in that spread. By analysing the trajectory and speed of the arrows as they flew like I had the javelins I was able to find that spot, while it wasn't devoid of attack I could block the one going for right shoulder with some ease. Taking two steps to the left and knocking aside the offending projectile I fell back into a throwing stance and launched my third lance. This one several meters above the prior. It was as I was preparing my newly commandeered weapon to defend from the incoming volley of arrows that something unexpected happened. My commander, Lucina was charging straight towards the walls of the Longfort, Kaunta held low and feet carrying her faster than my own could without reinforcement she dashed underneath the current flight of arrows in a move that looked like something I had done in the past.

It seemed she had figured out my own plan and decided to execute it herself, for as she neared the walls rather than slowing she sped up before leaping in the air. However, despite the impressive distance she was gaining it didn't look like she would make it. In fact I knew she wouldn't. I had placed the first spear, the lowest one, with the intention of reaching it with reinforcement and hopping my way up the rest with more care. However despite her lighter frame there was no way Lucina could get the same height I could while reinforced. She would surely fall short. It was as I was preparing myself to run forwards and catch her all the while making new plans to scale the wall that something changed. She used her sword in a way that even I, its creator, had never thought of. Shouting the trigger word Lucina did not swing the sword or allow it to move as it naturally should when exerting such force, instead she forced the sword to propel her further up just high enough that her feet landed on the first makeshift platform I had created.

Shaking the surprise off of myself as I guarded from the arriving arrows I noted the garrison soldiers were even more surprised than I was. I had at least known the purpose of the buried weapons and the abilities of Lucina's own sword. They wouldn't be able to overcome their shock in time to stop the woman. But despite all of that it wasn't enough. Lucina had used Kaunta's charged force to make the first jump, and while she could go from haft to haft easily enough the distance between the last polearm and the walltop was simply too great for her to make unaided. So I'd just have to add another. Falling back into a throwing position this time I didn't reduce the skill I borrowed from its previous wielder, instead allowing the full skill to flow through me. But it wasn't enough. The skill imbued in the spear wasn't enough to ensure I didn't hit Lucina while throwing. So rather than drawing from this spears history I examined another.

While Gae Bolg's effects were all enchantments or abilities of the cursed spear itself the skill with which Cu Chulain wielded it was all his own. And while I could not hope to replicate that skill with his own weapon, not to mention the iron weapon I held, I didn't need his full abilities. The Lancer of the Fifth Holy Grail War was one of the most skilled Heroic Spirits when it came to throwing a spear. Few excelled him and even those did not overshadow his abilities. Making the toss I was about to perform would be child's play for him, he could do it with a fraction of the fraction that I had managed to replicate. The spear flew under Lucina as she jumped off of the fourth lance even as it still vibrated from the impact.

Running forwards I lost sight of Lucina as she flew over the parapets of the wall. I caught the sounds of steel clashing as I plucked Bumeran from the air on its return trip. The blade was much slower than Kanshou and Bakuya and it had gone quite far when I threw it earlier. Jumping up the wall on the same path Lucina had followed before me I went unhindered as my ally sew chaos and battle along the wall tops. As I crested the top of the wall I saw my own commander battling the enemy's, only now realizing her name was Raimi upon seeing her lance. Rather than move to aid Lucina I instead blocked the path of the half dozen lightly armored soldiers that were coming out of the fort's lower levels. They still wore plate metal like the lancers from before and Raimi herself but they wore considerably less of it, and held their various polearms in a way that spoke new recruit rather than seasoned veteran.

Despite this I still had to take care, as their long weapons were a natural counter to my own shorter blade. It was as I was prying a halberd from one of the men that I heard Lucina. "Yield!" Using the reflection in Bumeran to judge what had occurred behind me. I released the halberd I had begun 'acquiring' before backing away from the soldiers who had frozen at the word my commander had uttered to their own. While the image I was able to get on my blade's edge was not nearly as clear as what I could see with Kanshou I had still been able to determine that Lucina had managed to disarmed Raimi and was currently holding Kaunta's point to her throat.

"I yield." Though Lucina began to sheath her weapon as soon as Raimi spoke I waited until the soldiers in front of me began to store their own arms to lower my guard. "You two sure are something, I didn't think you'd actually be able to break in." Raimi spoke as she retrieved her lance from where Lucina had knocked it during the fighting. She glanced over the edge of the wall before barking at her men. "Get those spears out of the wall! Then get some engineers to repairing the holes!" The men I had been occupying made a short salute before running off to complete their tasks.

"This means we will be approved to fight in the tournament in Arena Ferox right?" Lucina voiced both her question and my own to the garrison commander. With the fighting over the only remaining business we had here was to ensure our participation in the tournament.

"Yes, I'll send a messenger to both Khans informing them of your strength." As she spoke she signalled to one of the archers who had gone back to patrolling the wall. The man seemed to understand her intent as he ran down a flight of stairs into the lower levels of the fort. "With that they should both welcome you to fight on their behalf. Though I will need your names to send such a report."

"Marth and Shirou Emiya. If that is all we'll be leaving." With that my commander turned towards the northern side of the wall before stopping. "Shirou? What was your plan for getting down the wall?" Though Lucina had her back to me everyone else on the wall looked to me. Probably curious what someone who had used polearms as springboards would use to get down a wall rather than up.

"Didn't have one." I shrugged as I spoke. My goal had been to get on top of the wall, I figured from there I'd have a number of options, from fighting my way through the lower levels, taking the commander hostage as Lucina had done, to just jumping off the side reinforcing my legs and hoping. "I don't suppose we could take the stairs?"


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Alright, I'm back with the next chapter, I'd like to start by thanking everyone who reviews, follows, favorites, or even reads my story, it really helps my motivation and makes me enjoy writing this even more. Second I'd like to to respond to a particularly helpful review, formerlyarandomreviewer: I've gone back and changed 'Me and my companion' to 'My companion and I', thank you for the correction. I'll also be watching out for what you mentioned with my tenses in my future writing. Last though I do realize that there are people who hate it when an author has characters swearing by the root, I personally enjoy it myself and believe it is minor enough that others should be able to ignore it.**

 **Also I've gotten my first five star on FE Heroes, strangely it was Lucina. And with that I give you chapter 6 of Awakening to Battle, I hope you enjoy.**

Ducking low I brought Bumeran around to deflect the spears head wide and stepped in towards my opponent, a tall heavily armored man. I tried to cut the man's chest but my opponent was too skilled for that, using the haft of his spear to block my attack and ignoring just how far out of position the point was. I could have outsped the man, used Bumeran's edge to cut deep into his breast plate, however that would require me reinforcing myself, gaining a supernatural edge over my opponent. And while magic was allowed in the tournament I wasn't here to win, in fact my own participation in the tournament was wholly unnecessary. Lucina was only fighting because she wanted to, felt it would be a good opportunity to gain experience dealing with human opponents and a chance to gauge her father's strength. I instead chose to use this as a chance to measure the strength of those present in this world.

I had already discovered the people here were physically stronger than in my own. And not only due to the more labor intensive work they had in this time. In my world I was considered close to the epitomy of human fitness. I had began training my body shortly after the fire, almost fifteen years ago. After the Grail War five years ago I began to train for the sole purpose of fighting, taking the muscles that I had built up and refining them for a purpose. Not unlike those olympic athletes my body had been built with all the right muscles and reflexes for the purpose I chose. Unlike those athletes rather than running, swimming, or some other sport my chosen purpose was life or death battle. Because of that there had been very few mundane humans that could swing a sword faster or harder than me. Few who could move around a battlefield like me, few who could react to a threat as fast as I could. It had actually been rather strange, prior to the Grail War I had found the speed and strength behind Taiga's shinai impressive. Then only a week later I found it dull, slow. Her attacks lighter than what I soon found myself capable of and slow enough that I had to restrain my own instincts to dodge her attacks. Granted there had been others in my world with my level of strength or better. But they would only be found with Clocktower's enforcers, as a member of the Church's Burial Agency, or as a freelancer that worked with or against one of the two. That was where I stood in my world, among the best of the best, but here I found myself falling short by the smallest of margins.

My opponent was a perfect example. He was almost a dozen centimeters taller than me, an impressive height accounting for my own size, and hit like a man twice my size. I would've thought he was using reinforcement except I couldn't smell any magecraft on him. He wasn't slow either, rather he was just barely faster than me, it was only my superior reactions and habit of facing foes far above my abilities that kept him from hitting me. And he wasn't the only example I had found. Lucina was every bit as strong as I was despite her smaller frame and from what I'd seen of Chrom he was far stronger than her. While my reinforcement may put me above even Chrom in strength being reliant on that could be fatal later.

Ever since the Grail War I had trained with the assumption that I would be outmatched by my opponent. That they would be stronger, faster, have better magic and more of it. I had made the assumption that I would be outgunned at every point. And I was proven correct when I fought my first Dead Apostle, it was far faster and far stronger than any human I had seen before or since. Compared to the Servants of a Grail War it was still weak and slow but it was unfair to judge anyone based on such a scale. Now though, I was facing humans, ones that did not have magically reinforced abilities like I could muster. I would dull if I fought too many opponents weaker than myself, but limiting my own abilities here would only make me sharper in the future. Not to mention making myself appear weaker would make future opponents underestimate me. I love being underestimated.

Hopping back as my opponent brought the point of his spear to bear I kept distance as I analyzed my opponent, yes, but mainly his weapon. Reading his spear I learned more about the way this man fought than I would have through hundreds of sparring matches or countless hours discussing his style with the man. I know knew how he fought better than he did, and I used that knowledge. I noted how his shoulders turned and knew he'd be thrusting at me, I leaned forwards and lifted my blade to chest height, both obvious and common tells that I'd be charging him. Then, when he thrust his lance forwards in an attempt to skewer me I dove to the ground and rolled under the attack. Against any other type of weapon this could have been suicide. I had placed myself within weapons reach of my opponent and had myself exposed and vulnerable for what was far too long under other circumstances. However my opponent was wielding a spear, while he could hit me with the shaft of the weapon unless he used the point the worst that he could do was bruise me. And furthermore I knew this man, I knew he would be overextended, he had a habit of striking attacking opponents with more force than necessary. So when I came out of my roll on one knee I knew my opponent would be in no position to attack or defend for several precious seconds.

Drawing Bumeran across both the man's legs I cut several centimeters into them. As the man fell on his wounded legs I stood quickly and drove the pommel of my sword into his helmet. I felt the armor dent at the impact as he fell onto his back. Though he was more than likely unconscious I took no chances and kicked his weapon away before kneeling to place my sword's edge at his throat. I waited till I heard the game master's announcement ending the match before I stood up and backed away. I didn't turn away from my opponent until I saw him begin to rise on shaky legs, shambling away while relying on his recovered weapon for support. You could never know when a humiliated opponent may seek revenge.

As I left the arena through a tunnel I took the first set of stairs I found to reach the stadium. There was a single man guarding the stairwell, but he was there moreso to stop people from coming in than going out. Coming out at the lower levels of the arena it didn't take long for me to spot Lucina. She had told me where she would be sitting before my own match, and her own blue outfit stood out from the normal gray armors and brown tunics. Climbing several dozen steps I approached her and took a neighboring seat. She had chosen to sit in the middle of the stadium, far enough back to avoid the crowds but close enough that she could see what was going on in the matches.

"You held back." The words weren't so much of an accusation as an observation. She knew I could be stronger and faster than what I had shown, that I could conjure more powerful weapons than Bumeran. But she also knew why I hadn't.

"Yes, I did say I wasn't going to use my magecraft in the tournament." It was both my own handicap I had placed to refine my skill and a way to limit the information leak participating in the tournament would naturally give. Besides, my commander had her own handicap. "Just like you won't be using Falchion." Lucina had decided on her own handicap as well, though in her case it was almost a necessity. Falchion was an iconic sword, a Noble Phantasm, people would recognize it, and though I could claim to have forged her myself, passing it off as a replica, with my newfound status as a blacksmith, it wouldn't explain how the sword could bite through even the finest of steel with ease. So she had decided to wield Kaunta instead, and while it was a fine sword my own works could never match those blue prints in my head, always destined to be inferior. And no matter the skill I had used in its forging, or the enchantments I had wrought upon the blade it would never reach the realms of Noble Phantasms.

While Lucina nodded at my comment she declined to give a verbal response, as such we sat surrounded by the chatter of the crowd until the announcement came beginning the next match. "Ah, you'll want to pay attention here, Frederick will be fighting." As she spoke I looked down to the arena where two men were just now coming out of the pits. Coming out of the same tunnel I had just left was a monster of a man, every bit as large as my previous opponent yet wearing no armor, not even a shirt. He carried behind him an axe that probably weighed more than Lucina did. Yet despite the weapon's size he managed to pull it behind him with little effort. In contrast to his own shaggy appearance his opponent was dressed up in plate armor, with what was likely the crest of his knight order proudly displayed on each shoulder. He carried a cavalier's kite shield and a lance, his shield painted with the symbol of the Ylissean Royal Family. Though brief I did remember seeing this man before, and an analysis of his weapon confirmed my suspicions, this was Frederick.

"Frederick is Chrom's right hand man, correct? What kind of man is he?" While an analysis of his weapon told me much about how he fought, trained, and cared for it, it also told me little about how he acted off of the battlefield. And if he was a close confidant and advisor to Chrom as I suspected then I may end up having to deal with him in the future. Not to mention the possibility of us being allies in some future battlefield.

"Yes, Frederick taught my Father much of what he knows with a blade. And from when Father first formed the Shepherds Frederick has been his adjutant. He's a stern man, and likes to see things done properly, though that does clash with my Father's own attitude it also means Frederick keeps him from going too far out of line. The man is a veteran of many battlefields, even now so many years in the past, though he was getting old by the time I knew him, I'm curious to see how skillful he is in his youth."

Looking at the man and his weapon I could see what she was talking about. Countless hours spent training, and many battles under his belt. He was a veteran of Ylisse's last war with Plegia, a war that had killed so many others only made him stronger. He never slacked on maintaining his weapon, something that was made clear by how many battles he had carried that spear and shield through. But there was only one problem. "You should watch closely then. Sir Frederick is getting old already." At my commander's questioning gaze I continued. "Those that live on the battlefield have a very short lifespan, it's impressive that Frederick has lasted as long as he has but he's out of his prime. While he won't start to grow weak for another year or two he doesn't have the advantage of youth anymore." It was an unfortunate but natural thing. Strong and experienced warriors were a rare thing because to gain experience meant to grow old, and when you grow old you begin to grow weak. There are also those who suffer wounds beyond the scope of healing and are forced off of the battlefield, and they are those lucky enough to survive the battlefield. Retiring was not a common thing in a world like this. "Granted his skill won't begin to wane until much later in his life but he'll begin to lack the strength needed to use that skill."

As I spoke the match began. The axeman made the first move, bringing his weapon down hard on Frederick. But the knight did not so much as flinch, instead angling his shield just right so that the axe slid off and buried itself into the ground. It was as the man was trying to retrieve his weapon that he found the tip of a spear at his throat. It was as the crowd roared that Lucina gave me her own opinion. "Old or not he's still one of the most skilled men here." And she was right, while he couldn't have matched her own strength he would have been right at home fighting under Saber as a part of her Knights of Round. Not as a part of it's elite, those who would go on to become Heroic Spirits, but as one of the many lesser knights who had the skill and strength to reach such heights regardless of the mystical weapons and magical beasts that pervaded the era.

"How many more matches will there be today?" I turned my head away from the arena and towards my companion as I voiced the question.

"And why didn't you check the schedule yourself? It was posted at the arena entrances. There's no reason for you not to have known." Though I couldn't see her eyes because of the mask she wore I had a really bad feeling about what I'd see if she took it off.

"I, uh, didn't notice?" I could feel it in my voice. I was so uncertain of my response that it may as well have been a damned question.

"You didn't notice? I pointed it out to you, three times. And don't say that you had to prepare for your fight, I had mine before you." The truth was I had been too distracted by the sights of the city to notice the schedule. By the root, I hadn't even noticed where I was until they had called me out to fight, I had been operating on autopilot ever since we began nearing the arena. I mean, the entire city was built around the arena, the town's very economy was based around the fights. There had been so many weapons to analyze. While I had seen many well made swords and a few interesting mystic codes in Ylisstol that was nothing compared to what I had found in Arena Ferox already. From element based mystic codes, like the Levin Sword and the Tempest Sword to the Runesword, a blade whose magic attack actually drained the opponent's vitality to heal its user. Weapons crafted specifically to slay beasts, monsters, or even dragons and wyverns. Weapons built for the sole purpose to kill other men included anti-armor, sword, axe, and lance. I had even seen weapons with poisoned edges. And while none of them could compare to a Noble Phantasm they were far cheaper to produce and each held a unique history for me draw on.

So rather than verbally respond and admit that I had spent all morning checking out weapons I just scratched the back of my head and put on what I knew would be a stupid grin. "Ah, nevermind. The tournament lasts three days, with thirty two participants each from East and West Ferox, sixty four total. It's a single elimination tournament, so on the first day, today, the first round is fought, all thirty two matches. On the second day the second and third rounds are fought. Sixteen in the second and eight in the third leaves three rounds for the third and final day. That was the tenth match so there will be twenty six more." Lucina then cocked an eyebrow at me, something on my face must have given away my thoughts based on her next question. "Why? Do you not want to watch them?"

I gave a short laugh and went back to scratching my head before answering her. "Well, it's just that I can get a detailed record of the fights just by glancing at the participants weapons, and if I'm not going to be fighting again it seems like a good chance to practice my magic or get some exercise in."

"Hmm," My commander seemed to consider my admission before replying. While I could technically leave regardless of what she says I had agreed to give her command over the situation, and the few hours of practice I could get in weren't something I valued that highly. "alright, go do your practice. Just make sure no one sees you do anything abnormal, and be at the inn by sunset."

Nodding to her answer I stood and began to make my way out of the arena. Fighting the foot traffic of more spectators coming in I began to plan my training for the day.

Jogging into the clearing I had found earlier I allowed myself to slow to a walk before stopping. Between my fight earlier and my run that I had just now finished I was satisfied with my exercise for the day. Now it was time to work on my magic. Until just recently that would mean hours of channeling prana into swords, or attempting to push through my own aria so I could activate my trump card reliably. Now though I knew I could use the bladeworks to their potential and that my tracing was good enough that I could reliably and quickly produce swords or any other weapon I had seen.

So rather than opening my circuits and tracing I instead sat in the middle of the clearing and began to meditate. While meditation was close to useless for most magus for me it allowed me to access the Unlimited Blade Works without any prana cost. Though I wasn't actually there, I was still sitting here in this clearing, but I could look over the countless weapons that exist there. While I knew the contents of my blade works perfectly that didn't mean I could always remember the sword I wanted at a moment's notice. It was like a textbook, or a dictionary. While all the information was there it would take some time to sort through it. And though I could find weapons with specific qualities quickly, searching for them like an index, it would still take time to sift through the dozens or hundreds of results I could get.

So the best solution was to memorize the contents. To place bookmarks on those blades that I knew to be useful. It was something that I would naturally get better at with time. As I traced more weapons I'd learn to use them more frequently. Then there were weapons that my own experience or reliability on had forced me to note them long before I had begun trying to memorize the bladeworks. Kanshou and Bakuya, Rho Ais, Caladbolg, Gae Bolg, Gae Dearg, Rule Breaker. The list could go on and on. But the number of powerful weapons that I don't have memorized was far longer, made even larger by the number of weapons I had seen today. I doubted I would ever have the entire contents of the blade works memorized. I doubt even Archer, with the eternity of being a counter guardian behind him, has memorized even a single percent of his blades. They were unlimited after all.

So I found myself going over weapon after weapon, from Ascalon to Failnaught, Gae Buidhe to Ardonight, Harpe to Mjolnir. Some had extremely limited uses for me, and others had better alternatives. But I made an effort to remember every weapon I went over, never knowing when the effects of a certain weapon may prove useful. I was so deep in my meditation that I didn't even notice that there was someone else in the clearing until I opened my eyes to see them sitting there reading a book of all things.

"I didn't realize I had an observer." While I was calm on the outside inside I was berating myself for being so careless. If my observer had been an enemy I could be dead now. As is the worst I had to worry about was some weird rumors about me meditating. And though that could lead to some suspicion toward my origins or abilities it would be nothing too harsh. Besides, it's not like I didn't recognize my company. "So, what brings you all the way out here Robin?"

The twin tailed woman perked up as she heard me speak. It seemed she had been so absorbed in her reading that, like me, she hadn't noticed the state of those around her. "Ah, I didn't realize you had finished. You probably already know that the Shepherd's are fighting in the tournament, and as their tactician I have to do everything I can to ensure our victory." She seemed to take pride in her answer. Puffing up her chest as she closed her book after slipping something into its pages, a bookmark I'd wager.

"While that does explain your presence in Arena Ferox I was referring to something a little more specific." Sighing I rephrased my question. "Let's try this again. Why are you here, in this clearing with me?" She immediately perked up at my question, understanding flashing across her face.

"That does make more sense. Well, I had wanted to take the chance to talk with you some, partly to thank you for helping us against those Risen a few days ago and partly to ask a few questions. You and Marth both left us with a lot of questions we'd like answers to." That was exactly what I'd been expecting, though I hadn't thought she'd come all the way out here to find me.

"Actually, how did you find me? I would have noticed you following me through the woods, and I didn't choose this field beforehand, it was just a convenient spot." It was rather disconcerting, while I hadn't gone to any effort to hide myself being found so easily was unsettling, and potentially dangerous.

"Well, when you left the arena earlier I asked Marth where you had gone. He didn't tell me much other than that you went to train. From there I had to work on what little I knew of you and some deduction." That reassured me a bit actually. So long as there wasn't some unknown tracking spell or method involved I wouldn't have to devise new ways to hide myself or conceal my tracks. If it was just an extremely intelligent woman then I had nothing to worry about unless I was specifically trying to hide from the Shepherd's or Robin herself.

"I knew that you fought with swords primarily so physical training was obvious, and you and Marth had both been secretive enough that I could ignore any public training areas. Even going so far as getting new weapons just to hide your abilities." There I grew surprised. While I had expected one of the Shepherd's would notice our new weapons I had never believed anyone would accurately guess our reason why.

"And what makes you say that? They could easily be replacement weapons, or simply better than our previous weapons." Though asking about it would likely just confirm her beliefs it's not like I needed to keep Robin completely in the dark anyway. And besides, if she does adhere to the belief that our only reason for the new blades was to conceal our abilities than she wouldn't take a second glance at Lucina's sheathed blade and find out our other purpose.

"Yes, except neither one of you seem any better off with your new weapons. I'm no smith but I can use a blade, and neither of your swords look any better than your old ones. Marth still has his other sword and you both fight more awkwardly with the new weapons. Marth doesn't seem used to the curve or length of his sword and you seem to lack something for your other hand to do at most times. Or when you don't it's always inferior to what you could achieve with a second blade like what you had before."

She paused there, whether to catch her breath or think I didn't know, however I was ready to move onto other topics when she spoke again. "Besides, it shouldn't matter if your blades break." She said it so flippantly, as if it was barely relevant to her despite it being the most worrying part of the conversation so far.

"What do you mean?" I tried to keep my tone calm as I asked the question, I wasn't sure if I let out any cues but the sinking feeling I had in my gut didn't help.

"Hm, well you create them with magic right? That's what you were doing while I read right? Devising a new spell or contemplating an old one. I had been trying to figure out how you did it for a while now. How you made your blade curve through the air. It was when I remembered how you dismissed them and the blades dispersed into mana that I figured it out. It's a spell, you create your weapons using magic, that way you have some degree of control over them like any mage would with their fire or wind. I've never heard of someone able to manipulate metal with magic though. I was actually curious how you did it."

I did my best to keep calm before I answered, all the while assessing the damage. While she had found out far more about my abilities than I was comfortable with she was still mistaken about some very important points. She believed that the ability of Kanshou and Bakuya, to seek each other and their wielder was my skill and not a part of the blades naturally. She had no idea that my other blades could have other effects. She also believed that while my magic was rare it fit inside her own system of spell crafting. She had no idea just how rare it was or that it was part of a magic system separate from her own.

"I'm surprised you figured that much out. While I can't tell you more about my magic I'd ask that you keep what you know to yourself." I had to keep in mind that I could trust this woman. Lucina had said as much, the Shepherds in general were trustworthy, even if it was necessary to deceive them.

"I've already told Chrom what I know, it was simply too important for me to not tell my commander." I nodded as she spoke, I found myself understanding with my own superior officer now. "I can make sure the both of us keep it a secret but it'll cost you." While I didn't like the insinuation there it was something I could deal with.

"I can't tell you anything about Marth's mission. Those are his secrets to tell not mine, even if I know them." Not only that but the cost itself was too high, not that I'd be telling her that, not when it may only make her more curious.

"Alright, then tell me about yourself. I already know your name but it doesn't mean much without some context."

"I'm something of a travelling mercenary. I've come a long way from my home, I haven't even found it on a map since I arrived on this continent. And while I do sell my sword so I can afford food and drink more often than not I'm fighting for my own ideal. While I can perform magic as you've guessed It's only my own unique spell that I have any skill at. Anything else and I'm hopeless."

"What is your ideal then? Most people who have something like that serve under a king or commander they agree with. And while you are working under Marth now you only met a few days ago."

"Sorry, I'm afraid that would cost you more than you could afford. Just know that while Marth's goal and my ideal aren't the same they're close enough that I'll be fighting for him until he's fulfilled it or I've died."

My admission of possible death seemed to catch her off guard though it also seemed to be enough to sate her curiosity. "Alright then. That's everything I'll get I suppose I'll be heading back to town now. Good luck with your training." As she waved me off and began to leave I looked towards the sky.

Seeing the way the sun was just beginning to creep over the horizon I winced internally. There was no way I'd be able to make it back to the inn while the sun was still in the sky. Standing I addressed the white haired woman before she could get too far ahead of me. "Wait up a second. I'll go with you, it's time for me to head back anyway." If Lucina was going to murder me for being late I'd at least like someone who can testify as a witness.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Time for Chapter 7! I'm actually pretty surprised I managed to get this out with the release of the Nintendo Switch over the weekend, Breath of the Wild is soooo good. Anyway we're getting a little bit further into the tournament here, probably two more chapters until it's over. More from the Shepherds here as well, that'll be a theme until the tournament is over when Lucina and Shirou go off alone again. On the topic of pairings people have guessed correctly that there are really two possible ways to look at this, as ShirouXLucina and ShirouXRobin, however I'm going to refrain from truly creating either couple and try to write it so that you can also look at it as having no main pairing. Yeah, all the children characters will show up and that means I will have to do pairings for most of the characters but there are ways around that with Robin and other than that all that sort of stuff will mostly be happening in the background since this is from Shirou's POV. Lastly I'd like to once again thank everyone for their continued support and put out a little disclaimer. I really do love writing this story, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that it gets regular updates from now until whenever I finish it. However I also enjoy writing other things from time to time and I will probably begin uploading some of these things, none of them will be my 'main story' that is to say that this is the only story I can promise regular updates on, everything else is purely dependent on what I feel like writing. I'd like to once again thank you all for your support,** **penitence,** **and understanding, and give you Chapter 7 of Awakening to Battle.**

 **EDIT: Fixed the line where I said Plegia instead of Ferox, thanks to babaga and formerlyarandomreviewer for the correction.**

Pushing open the door to the tavern I had been staying at I allowed the woman accompanying me to enter first. It had come as quite a surprise that both Marth and I and the Shepherds had chosen the same inn to stay at. I'd say someone planned it but no one in either party had anyway of doing so. I suppose I could only blame the root. Allowing the door to close behind me my eyes adjusted to the warmly lit tavern as opposed to the dark that was outside. The sun had set almost a quarter of an hour ago and this far north it got dark out quickly. My fear of Lucina's response had only grown with the dark.

Looking around the tavern it didn't take long for me to spy the source of my fear. She was seated at the bar but by the looks of her not willingly. With her mask still on and her hair still up her disguise as a man was thorough. In front of her was a mug that she seemed most unwillingly to drink from and next to her a man she appeared even more uncomfortable with. It was the way her eyes lit up even through the mask that truly unsettled me.

"Ah, Robin! You're back!" It was the man next to my commander who spoke first. He was as loud as his looks implied he'd be, with blonde hair standing straight up over his head and no shirt on his body. He wore pants at least, plain blue with a belt to both keep them up and hold some kind of pouch, probably holding either rations or medical supplies seeing as he was a warrior. What stood out most about him was the collar he wore, with two disconnected chains hanging off the front he could be easily mistaken for an escaped prisoner rather than part of a knight order. "Come over here and let Teach buy you a drink!"

"No thank you Vaike. I have some reading to get done before I sleep and an early day tomorrow. I'll see you in the morning." As she spoke she escaped up the stairs, probably to whatever room she had rented for the tournament. It was then that he turned his attention on me.

"Hey! Who're you? Did Robin bring herself a boyfriend back?" While I could vaguely hear Robin's denial from upstairs it was Lucina's response to the question that had my attention.

"No, this one is mine. Though I would like to know where you've been Shirou. You were supposed to be here some time ago." I could feel the killing intent spill out of her at me. It was like facing down Berserker all over again. Even all these years later I had never encountered something as terrifying as that monster again. Not until now at least.

"Oh, er." Stuttering wasn't helping my cause here, I may not be too worried about dying but what Lucina could throw at me was a fate worse than death. "Robin, uh, she found me while I was training. She had a few questions for me and I lost track of time a bit."

"Ah, I see." Though her words seemed to convey understanding and forgiveness her tone was just the opposite. "Well then, I'm going to bed now, why don't you stay down here and get to know Vaike here. Learn something about our competition. Maybe he'll let something go if he's drunk enough."

"I ain't that stupid. And I'm an even better drinker! You won't make me talk." Looking at him I could hardly keep a straight face. Was he already that drunk or just stupid to begin with? Looking to Lucina I could see she wasn't sure of the answer either.

"Yes, I suppose you'll need to spend some time trying to get answers from him. Don't come up until he's completely spent." I watched as she stood, abandoning me to suffer. The calm smirk on her face as she climbed the stairs reminded me of my own and I began to worry I was a bad influence. Those thoughts were banished as the animal at the bar called out though.

"Oi, you're Sheetou right? Come over here! Drink with me!" Looking towards him I resigned myself as I sat down.

"It's Shirou actually, and you're Vaike correct?"

"Yeah, that's my name but you can call me Teach! Here have a drink, Marth left his behind." Looking at the drink I could tell it had been sitting for some time. The tankard was nearly at room temperature and still around half left. It was obvious 'Marth' hadn't drunk much. Looking at my reflection in the amber liquid I came to a decision.

Grabbing the wooden cup I brought its edge to my lips and downed the entire thing in a moment. "Why don't we make this interesting then? Loser pays the tab."

If the grin on my new opponent's face was anything to go by he had accepted my wager. "Ohohohoho! Yeah, looks like The Vaike is gonna have some fun tonight! And for free too!" He then mimicked me, downing his own drink in the next moment.

Looking over to the bartender I called for the drink as I began my conquest.

Sipping my drink I looked on in mild interest as the blonde man next to me slumped to the floor unconscious. It had taken longer than I anticipated for him to go down but in the end he fell. Looking at the alcoholic drink in my hands, one I was told was quite powerful by the bartender, I reflected on my inability to get drunk. It wasn't some genetic mishap or trained resistance. It actually stemmed from the same source as my enhanced healing.

Avalon was one of the most powerful Noble Phantasms I had ever seen, and also the only one I actually possessed the original of rather than creating my own copies. While it's active effect would drain me of all my prana within a few minutes of use its passive effect was also quite powerful, granting vastly improved healing. It had saved my life more times than I can count and while it was never made with the intention of accepting my own prana to work being inside of me ever since I was seven and rebuilding most of my body several times over had given me an affinity with the sheath.

While I would never reach the same power with it as its original wielder, Avalon had even granted Saber eternal youth preventing her body from aging, it still allowed me to survive and heal from impossible wounds, I had once been forced to regrow three fingers. However it was not just wounds that Avalon healed, in all my time holding it I had never once been sick, and though it had taken some time for me to realize it, it also purged any poisons from my body. And in the end that was all alcohol was, poison.

I could still theoretically get drunk, there was a limit to how fast Avalon could remove any poison from my body or heal any wound after all. It could also get distracted, dealing with other wounds rather than purging the alcohol, but I had never seen that point and doubted I would. There had actually been times it was inconvenient. Just like alcohol anesthetics were also just poison repurposed for a different use than killing. I had actually had woken up during surgery a few times and that was a rather painful experience. There was also how it could heal over shrapnel or bullets, trapping the metal inside. While it normally pushed any material out of my wounds before healing them I had sustained enough wounds of that kind to see a few heal wrong. Those were the worst because then I would have to create a new wound just to get the bullet out. And I couldn't go to a hospital to get it removed, they'd want to know why I got shot in the first place.

Grabbing Vaike under the arm I began to drag him up the stairs. The tavern owner had told me his room number earlier in, when it became evident to everyone but Vaike that I'd win. Nodding to the man behind the bar I walked upstairs as he began to close up the bar. Finding his room I knocked on the door. The man who answered the door was much lankier than his roommate, with brown hair with an unusual green tint. He gave me an apologetic smile, likely for his friend's antics and I returned a similar one for waking him so late. He took my conquered foe from me before moving back into the room, shutting the door behind him.

Moving down the hall I found my own room, one I shared with my commander. Slipping in I tried to avoid waking my commander. I should have foreseen my failure, she simply had too much experience defending against night raids not to wake easily. I saw her grasping Kaunta with her mask still on before placing the sword back at the bedside recognizing me. "You seem rather stealthy for a drunk man." She seemed more curious than accusing. Probably knowing from her own experience that Vaike wasn't going to let me go easily.

"That's because I'm not drunk, while I did have a lot of alcohol to drink I don't get drunk very easily." The look my commander was giving me seemed to be a mix of curiosity and exhaustion. It seemed the latter won out as she dropped back into the bed to sleep.

"If it's magic tell me in the morning, if it's not I don't care." Blinking at the bluntness of the order I found myself nodding before I fully processed it. "Sleeping bags are on the floor, help yourself to what you need to make your bed, I'm taking the real one." I watched as she unceremoniously flipped over before dragging the sheets over her head. I paused for a second to process what had just happened before grabbing both Lucina's sleeping bag and my own.

First I unrolled mine before looking to its side. In my own world with all its advanced technology one side of the sleeping bag would have a zipper running along the whole thing, allowing one to open it fully. Here rather than a zipper there was a cord of leather running through numerous holes in the side, similar to a shoelace. Grabbing the cord I undid the whole thing, knowing it would be so much harder to get the leather back through the holes than it had been to get it out of. Then I threw Lucina's still rolled bag against the wall as a makeshift pillow before draping my own unfolded bag over me like a blanket. The bottom of the 'bag' was still sewn together, as was the opposite side, but it was still comfortable enough and it would be easy enough to take off in a rush should we be attacked. Setting Bumeran near me similar to Lucina's treatment of Kaunta I allowed myself to dream of smoke and fire.

I woke early, as was my habit. I began by cleaning up my bedding, stowing Lucina's roll where I had found it and rolling my own back up and placing it in the corner. I didn't redo the leather cord though, knowing I'd be using the same style of bed tonight. Next I took Bumeran out of its sheath, doing my best to keep quiet so that my commander could continue to sleep. I began maintenance on the blade, cleaning it and sharpening it until it resembled the day it was forged.

Next I spent my time reviewing blades in my head. Not going nearly as deep into the bladeworks as I had yesterday. Though that slowed the rate at which I read swords it also kept me more aware of my surroundings. It couldn't have been more than half an hour by the time that Lucina awoke. She was groggy at first but shook it off quickly, she made no effort to make her own bed, probably due to growing up first having servants to do so for her then having such niceties become unnecessary during war. She dressed quickly, still having her travelling clothes on she only had to put her armor on top of that. It was then she turned on me.

"So last night, magic or not?" It took me a moment to realize what she was asking but when I did I began my reply quickly.

"Oh, yes, magic. It's a part of an artefact that I have, a sheath known as Avalon, it allows me to heal quicker but it also removes poison from my body and prevents me from getting sick. And since alcohol is just a poison people like to drink." I shrugged allowing the action to complete the sentence for me.

"You would use your magic to win a drinking contest? Wait, you said it was a sheath, I thought you could only Trace weapons." Though she had started out accusatory she had ended seemingly more curious about my abilities than hostile.

"And for the most part that's true. It's related to the problem with blueprints, weapons are the only things I can remember long enough to replicate without the original present. In theory I can replicate anything just with worse copies and at a higher prana cost so long as I have the original. And anyway I didn't trace Avalon, it's the one Noble Phantasm I actually own, rather than recreate." Though I suppose the Unlimited Blade Works itself was a Noble Phantasm, or would become one. Or is it already one since Archer is a Heroic Spirit?

"Noble Phantasm?" I blinked several times at her statement, the confusion in her tone mirrored in my action. I took me a moment to realize the issue and when I did I couldn't help but facepalm.

"Noble Phantasms are, well calling them weapons wouldn't be accurate. While they most commonly are, they can be just about anything. A Noble Phantasm is an item, or even concept, of such fame that it's known throughout time as legend. It is humanity's belief in the power of a Noble Phantasm that gives it strength, rather than the effects it actually had in life. Sometimes a Noble Phantasm will actually be a completely normal sword, but the fame of its legend will turn it into something truly powerful." Looking towards Lucina I saw my explanation was raising more questions than answers.

Sighing I decided to try and simplify things. "Don't worry about the complex parts, the odds of coming across an original Noble Phantasm are so astronomically low that Falchion is only the third I've ever seen." Those countless I had seen during the Grail War didn't count after all, they were just the weapons and abilities that had been brought from the Throne of Heroes along with their corresponding Heroic Spirits. Other than Avalon and Falchion the only original Noble Phantasm I had seen was Fragarach, and while it was a rare sword most Enforcers ended up seeing it at least once as there was a Fraga enforcer after all, and though she didn't show off her trump card being an Enforcer was a dangerous job, she was far from the only one to have used her trump card on a mission, myself included in that group. It made me wonder how the hell Archer had collected so many weapons.

It was as I was questioning my counterparts methods that Lucina seemed to realize something I said. "Wait, Falchion is a Noble Phantasm?" She said the term a little strangely but I ignored t in favor of answering her question.

"Well, yeah. A sword like that, with its history and abilities it couldn't be anything but a Noble Phantasm. I have a lot of experience with them, more than just about anyone from my own world and likely more than anyone here, so even without my magic I can assure you what you hold is a Noble Phantasm." There were probably those in my world with more experience with Noble Phantasms, but not many. Zelretch probably had more due to both his age and interest in causing or seeking out trouble. Possibly a few members of the church, those that cared for their vault of Noble Phantasms, but I likely had more in my Bladeworks, and I could use them. In the end I doubted any human knew as much about Noble Phantasms as I did, I simply had too many to study and too much intimate knowledge on them.

"How strong is it then? Compared to other Noble Phantasms how powerful is it?" I noted the way she had taken to glancing at the blade hanging from her waist as she prepared. She had long known the history and power it held but perhaps having a name other than 'legendary weapon' for what she had had changed something.

"Well, while normally rating a Noble Phantasm's power is simple this time it's a little more complex." The glance she cast me before donning her mask was enough for me to know I needed to explain. "Normally the power of a Noble Phantasms can be judged by its rank, the lowest rank is E, ascending in power as you go up to A in the alphabet, with the most powerful Noble Phantasms being EX rank." Glancing at her as she buckled on a chestplate I continued. "The ranks are pretty accurate, though sometimes a weaker Noble Phantasm will beat a stronger one, or be better in a certain situation because of their effects or limitations on their power. Falchion is a bit odd, there's a lot of limits on its power."

"Yes, you need both the blood of the exalt and to be accepted by the spirits of the sword to wield its power, without those it's too dull to even chop wood." I wasn't surprised by her knowledge of those restrictions. There had been numerous times in the past where people had failed to access the sword's power, both those with and without the blood of the exalt.

"Yes, but those seals aren't the problem, the problem is the Awakening."

"The Awakening? You mean the process where Marth channeled the divine dragon's power?" It seemed that even if she had known of process she didn't know of its full effects.

"Yeah, the Awakening channels Naga's power into the fang Falchion was made from. It allows Falchion's true power to come out. Without it the sword is a B- ranked Noble Phantasm, with it the sword grows to A+." It was truly a powerful weapon, however it was also exceedingly hard to unseal fully. Even should it appear in the hands of a Heroic Spirit most of its past wielders didn't have access to its unsealed form.

"Do you know how to perform an Awakening then? The power of a restored Falchion would be an enormous advantage in the coming battles."

"No, I know the tools required for it, the Fire Emblem and the five Gemstones, Argent, Sable, Gules, Azure, and Vert. Ylisstol keeps the Fire Emblem itself correct?"

"Yes, though it was lost with my Father's death in my time they should still have it now. We can try to track down the gems when we have the chance but for now we need to deal with the war against Plegia." She nodded at the decision she had come to as she strapped on her greaves. "Then you have access to three of these Noble Phantasms, two without the ability to wield Falchion?" Staring at her I took a moment to realize where she got that number from.

"Oh, no I have more than that." Looking at the sun beginning to peek through the window I noted the time. "We don't really have time for the long answer now, but the short answer would be that I got most of my weapons when I encountered someone who used magic like me. He had far more experience and weapons than I do even now, years later. But I still gained many weapons from those encounters."

"How many do you have then? Not just Noble Phantasms actually but any useful sword, I still don't know enough about your abilities."

"Well, it's hard to get an exact number, I'm not even sure how many I have. I guess the best way is tell you the name of my ability, my ability to remember and analyze the blueprints of so many weapons so easily. It's called the Unlimited Blade Works, and it has earned that name."

I glanced at my opponent, parrying his sword with my own. His weapon was a bastard sword, a hand and a half grip with just enough room for two hands on the handle and having only slightly larger a blade than a one handed sword. My opponent had both hands on the grip and was fighting cautiously. He would attack but would always hold back enough to ensure he could guard himself should I counter attack. He never put all his strength or speed into a blow, holding back enough that he wouldn't tire himself. That meant he was doing one of two things, he was either trying to start a fight of attrition, or he was trying to feel me out. By analyzing the history of his blade I had been able to learn he was in fact feeling me out, looking for a weakness to take advantage of. So I gave him one.

I let my guard move further down my body over time, slowly so as to not tip him off on my plan. He seemed to take the bait, though rather than take it immediately he instead began to try and expand my weakness. He began to target low, striking towards my ribs first then my legs, one attack was even targeted at my groin, I'd applaud him for fighting dirty if he wasn't trying to gut me. It was when he made his first feint of the match that I knew he had fallen into my trap. While this man fought intelligently he had likely never fought an opponent like me, one who used their own life as bait to trap their opponent. I knew where he would be striking me, even as his sword flew towards my neck I ducked rather than try and block it. Getting inside of his guard I sprung back up and clocked him on the chin with the hilt of Bumeran. As he fell I was preparing to pounce on him when I heard the games master announce my victory. Sheathing my sword I began to leave the arena, listening not to the roaring crowd but the sound of my opponent's own sword being sheathed as he walked out of the arena.

I had been expecting more outrage from the regular fighters at random upstarts winning their way through the tournament. Instead we were greeted by cheers from the crowds and joy at the prospect of strong opponent's from the opposition. It seemed the culture in Ferox was less bloodthirsty and more battle hungry.

Walking up the stands I found that 'Marth' had been surrounded by the Shepherds. While she had wanted to do everything possible to avoid contact with them, going so far as moving to another tavern, I had convinced her to stay, that avoiding them would only make them more curious, in Robin's case, and more tenacious, in Vaike, and surprisingly Lissa's case.

"Woo, good match Shirou!" The princess of Ylisstol was surprisingly tomboyish, despite her appearance. With blonde pigtails and a bright yellow dress she looked the part of a spoiled princess, even on a battlefield where she carried her healing implements. Off of it she acted more like a middle school boy than a girl of her age.

"Thank you Lissa, what's the next match?" While the fight wasn't as close as I had made it look it had been nice fighting an opponent who thought through his battles so much. Most skilled swordsmen fought on instinct or skill, and while it wasn't too rare to see an opponent think that far ahead in battle it was always interesting seeing someone closer to my own way of fighting. The only major difference between our ways of thinking was my willingness to use my own life as bait.

"Chrom will be fighting Vaike." I looked to another of those who had decided to gather around my commander. Despite her own ability to use a sword and magic Robin had decided against directly fighting in the tournament, instead observing fights and planning strategies for the other Shepherds to win their battles.

"I'm surprised Vaike can fight after how much he drank last night." Actually I was surprised he could stand. With how much alcohol he had I was surprised the tavern hadn't run out. I wasn't sure if he had stocked more because of the tournament or if it was just a part of Feroxi culture but he had sold the two of us so many drinks he'd probably be able to retire off the one night alone.

"And he seemed more surprised that you didn't even get a little tipsy last night. He vowed this morning that he'd get you drunk." The white haired woman shook her head, massaging her temples at her allies antics.

"Yeah, he was all like 'I swear I'm gonna see that man drunk by the end of tournament or my name ain't Teach!' it was pretty funny even Chrom was getting curious too, though Frederick didn't want Chrom drinking until the tournament was over." If Robin's statement had me scared Lissa's impersonation had me quaking in my boots. She sounded just like he did last night, by the root he was just that stupid, it had never been the alcohol. Damn it, his name isn't even Teach!

"For good reason, alcohol clouds the mind, weakens your judgement. Even if the effects fade with time it is not something to be consumed on the eve of battle." While I agreed with Frederick's words I chose not to voice my sentiments. Besides I had never even experienced being drunk, while all I knew about the process had me falling in with Frederick I couldn't be sure without a firsthand account. And most of the drinkers around me seemed to happy with it, Taiga had always been a drinker and though I had never seen him drink Lancer had been an open supporter for drinking, claiming it was the only thing he loved as much as battle.

"Regardless I can't imagine Vaike is in any shape for battle." Despite the conversation my original sentiment still hadn't been addressed.

"He had a headache but he said he felt like that whenever he talked with Miriel anyway. And he stopped puking almost an hour ago." Robin's assessment of his status didn't dissuade my concerns but I guess there wasn't much to worry about anyway. Chrom would be careful not to hurt Vaike too badly and Chrom was both my and Lucina's desired victor in the match anyway.

Watching as the two walked into the arena I saw Vaike's weapon and armor for the first time. Or I would have if he had worn any armor. "Did he forget his shirt?" While I would normally rule out the possibility of any soldier forgetting their equipment Vaike seemed the type.

"No, Vaike chooses to go into with, minimal armor." I gave Frederick a flat look before turning to Lucina. Though she had been silent up until now she still noticed my glance. She merely shrugged so I took it as a 'just go with it' kind of look.

"But the only armor he has on is that collar and his greaves. While the collar will protect his neck and the greaves will help his legs he's almost asking to be filled with arrows or cut open."

"He gets a lot of healing." I looked to Lissa, surprised at her insight on the subject. But taking a another glance at the many scars covering Vaike's body I understood she probably had first hand experience on the subject. "We make him carry extra medicine in battle, and Robin's started deploying him as a guard for me so he can get healing easier."

"I suppose the scars could intimidate a foe." It was a tactic I didn't normally consider. When one had little value for their life they didn't really get scared in battle. And it wasn't really an option for me in the past when I had been essentially fighting vampires and zombies. "But against any more disciplined or experienced opponent it would never work." I noted the way he flaunted his axe, spinning it around and making huge, sometimes unnecessary movements. "And I suppose all that spinning is a good way to build up force or draw attention off your allies. But it also tires you out quickly, a lot of wasted energy." Taking one last glance at the fight as Chrom knocked Vaike's weapon away from him before knocking Vaike on his butt I sighed. "Besides, I can't imagine Vaike would ever think about all that."

"Yes, I have spoken to him about his way of fighting in the past. While at first it would seem he possesses an advanced understanding of physics, especially centrifugal force and kinetic energy, as we spoke I began to understand that he seems to fight based on instinct. It surprises me that such an imprecise thing can produce effective results." I turned around to see who it was that was giving a science lecture in a combat arena. For some reason I wasn't surprised when I saw one of the Shepherds.

"Miriel? What are you doing over here?" It was Lissa who voiced the question on everyone's minds.

"I have come to remind Frederick that his match was next. I had hypothesised that he would be too engrossed in our commander's match to recall his own. I am pleased to see my deduction supported by evidence." This was Miriel then, suddenly I understood why talking to her gave Vaike headaches, I could barely follow her. Granted I was only a high school graduate, and my grades had only been average, but that was still more education than most people in this world got.

"Yes, thank you for the reminder Miriel. I must attend my match now, I'd like to ask you to watch over Lissa and Chrom until I am done." Without waiting for a response he stood and made his way down to the arena. Though he was armored and had a sword at his hip I noted that he lacked his shield, the large thing was likely in the tunnel leading to the arena center, many combatants who had larger weapons left theirs there.

"Good luck Frederick! We'll be rooting for you!" I watched as Frederick turned to bow at Lissa's encouragement before he continued his descent. I then turned to look at the newcomer to our little group. Well kept red hair and a stereotypical witch's hat on her head. The bespectacled woman who joined us looked every bit the magical scholar, from the black robes to her hat even her posture said she was more of a scholar than a warrior. I swallowed the distaste I thought of those magus from the Clocktower. I didn't really care that they looked down on me during my time there, I had no pride to be trampled on in the first place. It was the way they treated other people that held my disdain. Treating them as disposable tools, resources to be spent in any amount should it bring about new discoveries in their research. It was only Lucina's testaments that had me restrained, she had told me that while many members of the Shepherds had their, quirks, they were inherently good people.

"So you would be Marth and Shirou Emiya correct? I am Miriel, elemental mage of the Shepherds, my specialty is fire." I filed away how she phrased her abilities, elemental and fire, the way she said them suggested she could use more than one element, or perhaps them all, but that she was best with fire. Different from magecraft where you must have an element to use spells of its nature. There were ways around it, like using runecraft or a mystic code, but in the end if a spell was designed to be used with a certain element those without it could never use it.

"I am Shirou, and my commander here is Marth, he doesn't like talking much so excuse him if he decides to stay quiet." While I could feel Lucina's glare on me for a moment the feeling disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Taking that as a sign of approval I continued. "We are, something of a mercenary company, the two of us, though we are not for employ at the moment as we have our own goals to achieve."

"And where are you from then? While I do not keep records of skilled mercenaries or fighters I know that Ferox does, and if you had been on that list they would have given you some introduction other than your names in your matches. The fact that they only announced you as Shirou and Marth means that they don't." Looking at her I could see that her intelligence was no joke or facade, and that she could, with incentive, apply it to more than science and magic, the question was what was that incentive.

She must have seen something in the way I looked at her for she answered my question before I could answer it. "You see, Robin had been asking about using magic to craft objects out of earth. We were only working on the theory of it but I was surprised when last night she told me she had lost interest. It didn't take long to realize she had decided to stop pursuing this avenue of research just after talking with you. It took even less time to realize you had dispelled such weapons during your fight against the Risen alongside Chrom. From there everything else was just looking into the rule of the tournament and your first match. So I hypothesise, that you, Shirou Emiya, are a mage capable of using rare earth magic to such a skilled level that you can create weapons to fight with using it." I blinked owlishly at her, it was one thing when Robin had discovered so much during almost a week, it was another when this woman discerned just as much overnight.

Sighing heavily I decided to do what I could to limit the damage and turn this to our advantage. Glancing at Lucina I could see her nod, likely discerning my thoughts and agreeing with me. "Yes, I am a mage, and though I can craft swords you've underestimated how specialized I am, I am incapable of using any magic that does not deal with weapons. Also I'd ask you to keep this a secret, my abilities are something of a trumpcard and I'd like to keep them as close to unkown as possible. I've already asked Robin of this but I guess now I'm asking the Shepherds, or at least those present along with as few others as possible, to keep it a secret."

"Very well, while writing a thesis on the possibility of weapon based magic would be intriguing I'd rather get back to my work on the natural world." Miriel seemed to have no issues abandoning or at least keeping secret her research on the subject.

"Alright, I might have to tell Emmeryn but there's no way sis will let it get out, your secrets safe with me." Though I couldn't be sure of Lissa's ability to keep secrets the way she puffed he chest with pride told me she'd be putting in the effort. And I already knew Lucina trusted Emmeryn greatly so allowing her to know would be no issue.

"While I haven't known long I can say I will continue to try and keep your secret Shirou, though it does seem I failed to do so already."

"It's fine Robin, it shouldn't surprise me that cutting off your research on the subject would only draw more eyes to me rather than less." Despite one of my secrets being ousted by the Shepherds I wasn't concerned. If they believe that all I'm hiding is my ability to produce weapons then they likely won't look further, and if they believe that I am the secretive even despite 'Marth's' mask then they will be all the less likely to look into her than me. It was the same plan I had with Robin yesterday, only on a larger scale.

Looking back towards the arena I could see Chrom approaching with Vaike in tow as Frederick and his opponent squared off. I was likely correct about Frederick's shield since he had it in his hands now, in fact some quick structural analysis confirmed my suspicions.

"Chrom, Vaike over here!" I wasn't the only one who saw them approaching, and though they seemed to be heading up here already Lissa still called out to them.

Though they may have known where they were going they did not seem to realize just who would be there or at least Vaike didn't. "AH! You!" Vaike seemed to be determined to out yell Lissa, and then, despite the match he just fought he ran up the stairs with more speed than I thought he possessed. "It's you, er, Sirto, right?"

"Shirou Emiya." It seems that his memories of the night before weren't all there, that or he had just forgotten my name, I wasn't sure which would be worse.

"Yeah, Shirou! Dude, how much did we drink last night? I don't remember much after they brought out that fire brand whiskey but the bar tab I got in the morning was huuuge!" Though I was prepared to dodge his question he decided to move on and ask another before I even had the chance."And how did you drink all that? Not many can hold their liquor with Teach, but I don't remember you even getting a little tipsy!"

"Well, alcohol has never really been an issue for me." I saw the way Lucina glared at me as I said that, I had been getting better at reading her even through her mask. It was kind of liking reading an opponent even when they wore a helmet. Even if I couldn't avoid doing it it seemed she wasn't happy with me using a magical artifact on the same level as Falchion to cheat at a drinking contest.

"Well I don't care what I have to do but I'm gonna see you drunk while we're all here! I'll get all the guys in the Shepherds to drink with us if I have to!" He seemed rather proud of the fact that he wanted to get his entire military group wasted just to see how high my alcohol tolerance was. "What d'ya say Chrom! Let's see just how much this guy can take!"

"While I would like to see just how accurate your stories about last night are Frederick is right, until the tournament is over I can't be doing anything more than some light drinking." I wasn't the only one that saw the way Chrom glanced down to the arena when he said that. "Perhaps on the last night, once the tournament is over."

"I don't plan to let him last that long! He'll be too wasted to even fight tomorrow! And since I just lost I don't have to worry about fighting now! Just you watch, Teach will have you on the floor!"

Leaning close to my commander I spoke barely above a whisper, just loud enough that only she could hear. "Maybe we should change taverns, or we could just camp in the woods." Despite the pleading look on my face the only answer I received was a smirk I swear she stole right off my face.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Hey, I'm back! Sorry about the long wait between chapters, I can only say that life is hard, and that life is chaotic, but what's new? Really I had to take a break because of a calc II test, I wanted to take the extra time to study after I did particularly bad last time. After that I had my brother/beta's birthday to deal with and as well as two other exams. Regardless I'm back and to apologize for the delay I'll be posting two chapter's today, the first one, chapter 8, is particularly long, around 8k words, and the second, chapter 9, is actually on the shorter side, only 4k. Once again, sorry for the delay, thank you for supporting the story and the second chapter should be onlline within an hour of this going up.**

I staggered up the stairs with Vaike once again draped over my shoulders. He wasn't kidding when he said he'd be getting all the Shepherds to drink with me. Though Vaike had drunk more than any of the other Shepherds he had gotten most of the other men in the group to have at least a few drinks. It had actually been a good chance for me to meet most of their group, and learn about their alcohol preferences.

First had been Stahl, the man was a little quiet but kind. He was a cavalryman in their group, one of three including Frederick and a woman named Sully. He hadn't wanted to drink much but Vaike had made me share a few bottles of an almost fruity beer with him. Virion was the next to drink, he had come across as a rather stuffy man. He said he didn't enjoy much Feroxi drink, claiming a more refined taste. He was the only archer in the Shepherds and seemed like more of a diplomat or aristocrat than a soldier. He had chosen to share a bottle of pricey wine with me, it had tasted fairly good to me but Virion claimed there were far better ones in Ylisstol and even superior wines in his home country, somewhere across the sea apparently. Chrom had decided to share a few drinks, a kind of wheat beer, low in alcohol levels with a plain but strong taste. Kellam had joined as well, and by the root I swore that man had presence concealment at an absurd level. He claimed he had been sitting there the whole time and I hadn't believed him until I analyzed the chair he was sitting on. To my shock he had been there last night too, I never even noticed him! I swear he must never be summoned as Assassin, he could walk right up to the masters and stab them, and no one would notice until they started bleeding out. Regardless, despite his large stature the man was quiet even when you listened to him. He hadn't been able to pick a drink and had been forced into drinking some whiskey by Vaike. The brawny man had grown tired of weak beers and wine. He had been eager for the stronger stuff.

That had been fine with me, I doubted the tavern sold anything that could make me drunk. Avalon worked too quickly for that, anything strong enough to make me drunk would probably kill a normal man. Vaike himself though had pulled out what he called 'the big guns'. It was another whiskey like what he had made Kellam try. The barkeep had given me a smug look as he placed down a large bottle of the stuff along with a couple mugs. And while the stuff burned like the fire it was named for as I drank it Avalon had the alcohol out of my system by the time Stahl had refilled the cups. If not for all the disastrous effects it had on your health and judgement I'd actually be rather jealous of the others. They seemed to have a lot of fun when they drank.

Regardless they were doomed to fail from the beginning and so they did. I was currently dragging Vaike up the stairs following behind Stahl. Chrom had gone up earlier, when Frederick had pestered him about needing his sleep. Kellam had disappeared when I wasn't looking, for all I knew he was behind me but I was trying not to think about that. Virion had also gone up early, claiming he was going to play chess, though I didn't know who his opponent was going to be. We hadn't gone as late as we had last night, partly because we had started early but also because despite what Vaike said he hadn't truly recovered from his drinking last night.

Regardless I found myself with Lucina in our inn room well before either of us planned to sleep. "You don't seem all that concerned about the Shepherds knowing that you can trace weapons." So that was her 'question of the hour'. It seemed we had taken on something of a pattern, with her slowly learning more and more about my past and abilities whenever I had the chance to explain something.

"That's because they don't know I can trace, they know I can conjure, or create, weapons. The difference is that I can recreate the effects of a weapon I trace, even magical ones, instead of everything I create being mundane outside of me being able to exert some degree of manipulation over how it moves."

"But you can't, can you? When your sword's flight turned against that risen it was an effect of the swords not your magic correct?"

"Yeah, Kanshou and Bakuya are always drawn to each other and their wielder, that's why I gave a similar effect to Bumeran when I forged it, I was familiar with the effect and more than capable of taking advantage of it." I often used that effect as a sort of trump card, Archer had even created a special technique based on it, a sort of finishing blow, triple-linked crane wings took advantage of their effects to force the opponent to either open their guard to an attack from broken forms of the swords or to pierced from the sides and behind from two pairs of the swords. It was actually rather similar to Tsubame Gaeshi when put that way, though that technique required far more skill.

"Though I do have some control over how my weapons move that's only right when I trace them. I can add speed and a direction for that speed to the sword when I project them. I normally use it to trace swords so that they'll be launched at my opponent point first, I can't do too many or too accurately at once since it requires a lot of focus but it's useful for distracting an opponent or for mid-range combat."

My commander seemed to be taking the new information in well, well enough that she was able to question me on it at least. "That doesn't explain why you're so unconcerned with the information leak. Keeping our abilities secret was a major concern of yours and now the enemy might have information of your trump card, even if it's not all that much."

Blinking I realized just where the misunderstanding between us was. It was about time to clarify something. "Tracing isn't even one of my trump cards. Though it does play a part in most of my fighting rather than being a trump card it's my go to strategy. Prior to forging Bumeran I never really fought without tracing, and while I did try to hide just how many weapons and what kinds I could trace I was never shy about tracing itself." I had actually been well known for being able to turn projection, an overall useless magecraft, into something useful, even if most proper magus saw it as only something useable in battle and therefore not worth their time. Amoung the enforcers there had been several interested in learning my spell, the ability to replace lost weapons for only a small prana cost could be invaluable on the battlefield, not everyone was able to store dozens of blades like the executors could.

I had passed off the attention though, claiming I was only able to do it so easily because of my element, and while most seemed to believe my element was something simple like metal, or steel, only Rin had known what it really was. "I have a lot of trump cards." I settled for saying instead of explaining my rather mercenary past. "Most of them are just the effects of my more powerful Noble Phantasms, some are techniques or strange ways of using one or more of my weapons." Most of those were stolen from Archer, though I guess you can't really steal from yourself.

"And what weapon would your strongest trump card be then? I'll keep in mind the versatility you have with weapons but I am rather curious if you can determine which weapon is your strongest."

"Actually, my final trump card isn't a weapon. It's a spell." My commander was rather surprised by that, though I guess that was to be expected. I had told her myself, I was an awful magus, incapable of most magecraft outside of the basics and my self made spell, tracing. "It's a little different than anything you've probably seen but it is without a doubt my most powerful ability, my last resort. You won't see it unless we are truly desperate and I can't hold it for long, fifteen minutes or so when I'm at my best."

"Then it's a sustainable technique, rather than a single attack or defense?"

"Yes, in the end all it does it make me more powerful while I have it active. I don't actually need to trace new weapons when I'm using it, I'll have them automatically for no cost. It's also a good way to trap an opponent, until I'm dead, released them myself, or I've run out of prana none of my enemies can escape."

"Hm, I suppose it's a little overkill to use it for capturing prisoners though."

I laughed a little at that. Deploying my bladeworks just to stop a thief from running away. "Yeah, besides, I can't really afford to let a lot of people know about it. It is my last resort, if people could plan how to counter it then every battle would get harder for me."

"Understood, I'll keep it in mind, hopefully it won't be necessary for you to ever use it but if it's what is needed to stop Grima,"

"I'll use it even if the prana cost kills me." I spoke before she could finish her statement. Grima's resurrection would cost millions of lives. It would be just like Angra Mainyu at the end of the fifth grail war. It was not a future I could allow.

"Hopefully it won't come to that, but if it does know that you won't be alone." I wasn't surprised by Lucina's resolve to die with me if need be. She had seen hell, just like I had. Neither one of us would allow such a hell to occur again if we could.

"Regardless it is getting late, and tomorrow is the last day of the tournament. If you win you're next match it'll be the two of us in the semifinals." Thinking over the bracket in my head I realized she was correct. The tournament was drawing to a close and all that was left was one more round to reduce the participants from East and West Ferox before their representatives were chosen in the semifinals and then fought in the finals.

"In that case I'll have to forfeit if I win my next fight, there's no reason for me to fight you, we can spar often enough. And a major part of us being here is so that you can fight Chrom. If I win our fight then you won't get the chance. I'd have to throw the fight either way." Though that had always seemed the obvious course to me it seemed to have come to my commander as new information.

"That's unacceptable! Regardless of our reasons for fighting we are to be opponents in the tournament. And if you forfeit then it will look like I ordered you to do so, we have to fight, and if you win then I just won't get my match with my father."

"Nu-uh, this fight is important to you, and I couldn't care less about doing it myself. Besides we need to let Chrom win the final either way. So we're gonna have to be dishonorable about this." Seeing how she was still opposed to my forfeiture I decided to push. "Tell you what, Frederick and Chrom are slotted to fight right before we do. If Frederick forfeits then I do too, if he fights Chrom then I'll fight you but I'm still going to lose."

The conflict on her face didn't last long before she nodded. "Fine, regardless I wish you luck tomorrow. You're opponent is Lon'qu, he'll be a Shepherd one day and he may be the most skilled swordsman in all of Ferox."

"Then you should be wishing him luck. I'm no pushover, and faced far more skilled swordsmen than myself and won." Turning to my makeshift bed I tried to ignore the way my commander snorted at my supposed overconfidence. I wasn't gloating after all, I didn't gloat as that required having pride. Laying myself down on the wooden boards I began to dream of swords.

Looking down to the arena I could only smirk as the announcer stated the Frederick had forfeited. Frederick had apparently told the man that his honor wouldn't allow him to fight his liege in battle, even as part of a tournament. Standing I allowed my commander to see my smirk as I walked down to the arena for my own match. She had already fought her first match and had been cleaning Kaunta from the fight, she had been forced to cut the man's wrist when he had tried to go for his weapon after what everyone besides him saw as the end of the fight. He hadn't done anything wrong, the games master hadn't announced the match's end yet, in fact on the battlefield his only mistake would be getting himself cut. The wound would be easy to heal with magic but Lucina still had to clean the blood off her sword. Her own face could be compared to stone but I knew that my victory in our bet was bothering her.

Heading down to the arena I prepared myself mentally, I hadn't watched much of Lon'qu's fights but from what I had seen combined with the history of his sword I knew a good deal. His sword wasn't too old though, he had just gotten a new one a few days before the tournament, the Khan had wanted his best fighter to have the best arms after all. However I still knew he relied mainly on speed in his fighting. He stayed mobile as well, dashing around the arena, using his superior speed to maneuver around his opponent and strike where they were weak. It wasn't suited to extended combat due to limits on his endurance, though he might have other ways of battling weaker or more numerous foes, overall it was a method suited to quick fights where he would take any chance to end the fight with a quick, decisive attack. If he didn't end it fast he'd end up running out of steam from running around too much. It was also the worst possible way to fight me.

Standing in the arena I drew Bumeran from my waist as Lon'qu drew his own sword his hip. It was a thinner blade, made from steel and oddly weighted, it was unlike the european style weapons I had seen since coming to this world. It looked more like a western smith had attempted to make a japanese or chinese blade, actually Lucina had said that you had to be a foreigner to fight in the tournament. Perhaps Lon'qu was from this world's equivalent of asia. It would make sense if his current weapon was an attempt to replicate the weapons he had grown up wielding.

Regardless that was a concern for another time, I placed my blade in front of me, doing my best to guard all but one lethal points on my body. It was difficult adapting Archer's style to be used with only one blade, but Lon'qu despite his skill wasn't as fast as my normal mystical opponents. Combined with the larger size of Bumeran compared to Kanshou and Bakuya I was able to put up a passable mimicry of my normal style. I may have underestimated Lon'qu's speed because as soon as the announcer called the beginning of the fight he was on me. I was still able to guard his attack since I had known his target but it was far closer than I was comfortable with. Granted I wasn't reinforcing myself and I lacked the extra blade I would normally have but that didn't change just how fast Lon'qu moved. I suppose the people here truly were stronger. I don't know if it is a part of the world itself or simply the harsher environment but with that speed Lon'qu could've been an olympic sprinter in my world, and yet he was barely winded after such a feat. Still it wasn't so great a disparity that I couldn't close the gap with reinforcement, but to do so would be showing some part of my true strength, no matter how small. Regardless I wasn't here to win but to grow stronger, if I relied on reinforcement against an opponent of this level it would only dull my blade.

So when he leapt back before I could strike at him again rather than take the chance to reinforce my own speed I instead reassessed my guard and closed the opening he had taken advantage of earlier, yet at the same time I opened another, more well concealed target. I looked back to my opponent in time to see him running towards me again, before he dashed left to try and pierce through my seemingly unprotected side. Guarding I set up a pattern between the two of us, staying on guard I constantly blocked his attacks before adjusting to cover the previous weakness and simultaneously revealing another, smaller more concealed weak point. To anyone else it would appear my opponent had control of the fight. That he was determining the flow of battle. But it was just the opposite, by giving him targets he couldn't avoid taking I was choosing each of his moves just as much as I was my own. It was similar to how a professional chess player would play against an amatuer. By creating situations where your opponent had to act in a certain way you controlled your opponent. From there all I had to do was take advantage of that control. So when I exposed myself to an attack to the left of my neck rather than block it with my sword, as I had throughout the battle, I instead brought my left arm up up to block the attack. The blade cut almost a centimeter into the bone of my forearm before stopping, Lon'qu hadn't put enough strength into the attack to cut off my head so he was also unable to sever my hand.

While my opponent was concerned with the way his sword was getting stuck in the bone of my arm I brought my own blade up and stabbed him in the gut. It wasn't a fatal wound, as any swordsmen or doctor in the audience would know at a glance, but it did put my blade in a position where I could push down just a bit and gut him. I could barely hear the games master name me the victor over the crowd. Most men of Ferox had been trained with a sword, and most woman had stitched more than a few wounds closed. It didn't take more than a second or two for people to realise Lon'qu would be perfectly fine with quick medical treatment.

Pulling my left arm off the man's sword I used it to keep my now bleeding opponent steady as a medical team drew near. I didn't remove Bumeran until they had bandages to close the wound with to avoid him losing anymore blood. While several men and woman bandaged my opponent before putting him on a stretcher one man came over to me and offered to bandage my own wound. I accepted, partly to save myself the blood and risk of infection and partly to conceal the way my wound was already healing. It would take some time for Avalon to repair the bone but I didn't want anyone noticing just how quickly it healed when that was done.

I declined the offer for one of them to use a heal staff on me, while I claimed to have a healer I knew in mind I really just planned to let Avalon do its own job. I had no idea how Avalon or my own resistance to magic may affect the healer's magic. Before going to the stands I walked to the announcer, whispering in his ear I made it clear I was forfeiting my next match. I told him it was because I had no interest in fighting my commander and that, that since I had joined to fight strong opponents I was satisfied after battling Lon'qu. That would be enough to save Lucina's pride and allow me to be done with the tournament from here on.

From there I made my way back into the arena, while the crowds cheers lessened after the announcer told them I was forfeiting there was very little booing, they seemed more disappointed than upset. Moving up to where my commander was sitting I saw her begin to open her mouth before seeing something behind me and stopping. "That was awesome!" Turning I noted several Shepherds had found me and Lucina, the small group was led by the young princess in yellow, with their white haired tactician and the spiky haired axeman in tow. "You were both so awesome, and the way you stopped his attack before stabbing him, it was almost like you knew where he was gonna hit you!" She was more perceptive than she acted if she had noticed that much but I'd rather not explain that one.

"You don't seem concerned about how I stabbed Lon'qu." It was a little eerie seeing a little girl so used to violence. It was almost like the master of Berserker, she had been so small and cute, and yet had so easily set that monster about attempting to kill me.

"I'm a little worried but I'm sure he'll be fine. I've seen people live through worse, healed some of them myself, and they have much better healers than me here." I couldn't disagree with her on that point, she was still young and the healers they had here would have worked on far worse cases than she had seen. Lon'qu probably wasn't even an exceptional injury in their eyes, especially with magic to aid them in his healing.

"That was impressive, though I do wonder why you forfeited after your match. With your skill you may be able to beat Chrom, and I doubt you quit because of your injury, healing something like that would be simple and could be done by your next match." Robin once again proved how perceptive she was. She didn't even consider that I had told my announcer my real reasons for quitting.

"I simply have no reason to fight anymore. Regardless of whether Marth or I fight in the finals our goal is still achieved. Even if I defeat him and go on to face Chrom it makes no difference unless I win. And Marth and I decided last night that, should the choice be available he would be the one to fight your commander." Though Lissa seemed to accept my reasons and the whole conversation went over Vaike's head Robin seemed to have caught onto something.

"How did you know Chrom would be making it to the finals?" It took me a moment to catch onto the implications. I had gotten so used to both me and Lucina being well aware of who the East Khan's finalist would be that I had forgotten others wouldn't be. I was struggling to come up with an answer but luckily I didn't have to.

"We didn't." It was 'Marth' with 'his' unnaturally deepened voice that replied. "We also considered that Frederick would end up the finalist, in that case Shirou wouldn't have forfeited. We didn't make such plans for the others since we couldn't see any of them beating Chrom and Frederick. When Frederick forfeited to Chrom Shirou knew he only needed to defeat Lon'qu so I didn't have to. That's why he was so unconcerned with receiving wounds." I caught myself before I could look at my commander in surprise. She was more cunning than I had given her credit for. She hadn't technically lied to any of them, if Frederick had so much as fought Chrom I would've actually had to fight Lucina rather than forfeit. The only part she was truly wrong about was why I had been unconcerned with my own wounds and I didn't want to have to explain what Rin had dubbed my 'suicidal tendencies' to her.

"Hmm, I suppose so, though I don't know why you decided that was your best matchup the idea of influencing which one of your fighters made it to the finals based on who your opponent was had never occurred to me." Robin seemed believe Lucina's story, and that was more than enough for me.

"Regardless that means you and Chrom will be fighting in the finals." I turned to my commander as I spoke, while we had gained a lot by coming here, both in battle experience and giving me the chance to meet the Shepherds this was our ultimate reason for coming. Lucina had wanted the chance to face her father in battle, she needed to know just how strong she was, if she could succeed where her father had failed.

"Yes, but that isn't for a few more hours. They leave time for the fighters to rest and get healed if they suffered any wounds in their previous match."

"Then we've got a few hours, since both semifinalists forfeited there's quite a bit of time between now and the last fight." Looking upwards I noted the sun's position, it wasn't directly overhead, but it'd be getting there soon. "Why don't we go get lunch, if you want to eat you'll need to do it soon so the food has time to settle."

"Ah! We should come too! We can all eat together." Though I had been addressing my commander Lissa seemed more than ready to join in.

"Unfortunately I doubt we can." Blinking I turned towards Robin as she spoke. "Almost everywhere is going to be closed, and while there will be a few stalls open around the colosseum they'll all be ridiculously packed because of the cancelled matches. We won't be the only ones looking for a bite to eat."

"Then why don't you cook us something Shirou. You said you would start cooking us food to eat instead of just eating travelling rations but you never got the chance."

I could see the way that the Shepherds reacted to the idea of me being a chef in addition to a swordsman, Vaike seemed ready to hop on board but I had to shoot him down. "I would but we've got nothing to cook. The only food we've got are some breads, dried meat, and cheese." I could turn that into sandwiches but that wasn't really cooking so much as improvising a meal. "And there's no where open for us to buy ingredients. I could probably go hunting but by the time I got something it'd be too late."

"The Shepherds have some food, we could share." Surprised by the unexpected offer I turned back towards the twin tailed tactician. "We've got some ground beef and vegetables we bought yesterday, we planned to use it for rations in the way back to Ylisstol but we can always get some more. We've also got some mushrooms that Frederick found while we were marching the other day too. He said they were edible, and that he's eaten them before."

"Hm, beef, mushrooms, vegetables, there's cheese too, yeah I can do that. You sure you don't mind sharing though?"

"Not as long as you don't mind cooking for all of the Shepherds." The smirk she gave me told me it would be a challenge.

"I would love too." I could feel my face split in two by the grin on my face.

It only took fifteen minutes or so for us to find a clearing to work in. Lissa had gone to find the rest of the Shepherds and Robin had gone to retrieve the beef and mushrooms from the inn. Lucina and Vaike had gone to get wood for a fire so I took the chance to project all the tools I'd need for the job. First was a simple grilling rack along with a drip pan. Nothing complex, just some metal grating with two legs, one on each side, to help it stand overtop of the fire. The drip pan was nothing but a pan that could hang under the rack itself, meant to catch any juices that might fall. Then were two frying pans, while normally I'd need a stove or something to put them on I could always place them on the grilling rack. Not very elegant but it'd do the job. Next were utensils, I didn't need much, only a spatula and a knife. Lastly was a cutting board, it was nothing fancy, simply a block of wood large enough for me to work on without getting the food dirty. It was as I was going over my plan in my head that Lucina and Vaike returned with the firewood.

"Will this be enough?" I had to take a look at what the two had gathered before I could answer. A couple of dry logs and few dozen small sticks for tinder.

"Yeah that'll be enough." Lucina took that as a sign to start preparing the fire, taking both her and Vaike's haul and setting to work.

"Teach'll be back real quick! Just gotta grab something!" Blinking as the axeman ran back towards the town I shrugged and began helping Lucina to set up the fire.

"Anyone know where Vaike is going?" It hadn't been more than a minute or two after Vaike left that Robin arrived.

"No, he just ran off and said he'd be back soon." While I didn't know what he planned to do I doubted it would be good.

"Well, he'll show up when he gets hungry." Robin dismissively sighed as she spoke.

"You say that like he's a stray dog."

"In a lot of ways he acts like one, anyway I have the food here what do you want me to do with it?"

"Here, put it on the cutting board." I motioned to the board I had traced as I took in the food she had brought. The mushrooms weren't as large as you would see in a store, and they had less fleshy heads than those I had worked with before, probably due to all the genetic manipulation that had been done to crops in my own world. However they were still quite large and with the proper preparation would be good. The vegetables she brought were exactly what I expected from an area so similar to northern Europe. Potatoes were most common but there were also some bell peppers and onions. The meat was what I was most interested in since It would make or break the meal. As I had expected though it was cow meat ground up for easy storage and cooking, it was actually being stored in pottery, which surprised me but I suppose that was simply how food was stored in this time.

So after pulling the beef out of the pot I began to tear off chunks of the beef and form them into patties. Though my specialty would always be japanese cuisine I was no less skilled with most types of western food, a testament to my time in England.

Turning I traced a flint and steel to light the fire Lucina had built. As the flames began to lick across one of the larger logs I grabbed the grilling rack and set it over the fire with thee drip pan situated just underneath it. Next I laid each of the patties on the rack to let them begin cooking. I then turned back to the cutting board and began cutting the veggies up. I began with the mushroom, cutting of the stalks first and disposing of them. Then slicing what was left into large thin potatoes I peeled the skin off of with my knife before cutting into tall and thick pieces. The onion I cut into several pieces before cutting those in half and separating the onions' natural layers to create many long pieces of onion of varying size. The peppers were the simplest to prepare, I only cut the edges of the peppers off before disposing of the core and cleaning off any seeds. The peppers themselves came in three colors, green, yellow and red, I knew from experience that the yellow and red would be sweeter while the green would be a little bitter.

Next I placed the peppers on the grill directly, they would cook fine without any extra preparation. The onions and mushrooms I placed into one frying pan while the potato chunks went into another. It was then that Vaike came back.

"Hey, Teach is back! I hope no one started eating without me!" Looking behind me I saw the shirtless man entering the clearing. It was only then as I turned around that I noticed that I had been too absorbed to notice the arrival of the rest of the Shepherds. While I had met most of them before now there were a couple I was only meeting for the first time now. First was a red haired woman I knew to be Sully, though I had seen her during my first battle against the risen we hadn't talked during or after the battle. She was a large woman, I could tell just by the size of her arms that she was as strong as any man and the history I had gleamed from her weapon back then told me she was every bit as skilled.

The other girl was Sully's opposite in every way. With long silver hair in contrast to Sully's short red hair and every bit as meek as Sully was strong willed, they were truly polar opposites. The more I saw of the Shepherds the more I realized just how varied their forces were, both in armaments and personalities. I had no idea how such a group managed to fight as effectively as they did.

"Vaike, is that alcohol that you are holding?" Turning back to the axeman I noted the way Frederick was staring him down, Vaike, however did not seem to notice the obvious warning in his voice.

"Yeah! I figured since I was done for the day I might as well have some fun, so I grabbed some beer from the tavern!" Looking I noticed the two wine sacks he was carrying. They were essentially leather bags with a stopper in the top of them for holding liquid, they were cheaper and easier to produce than a metal or glass flask or bottle, especially in a time like this when mass production wasn't even a dream of some adventurous entrepreneur. Actually, that gave me an idea.

"Hey Vaike," Interrupting Frederick before he could begin to lecture the man I drew everyone's attention. "do you think I could have some of that beer you've got?"

"Sure! That's why I brought two after all! The more the merrier."

"I do not believe it is proper for a chef to be drinking while he works." Frederick voiced his displeasure as Vaike gave me one of the sacks, though he made no move to interfere.

Popping the bag open I sniffed the beer. It wasn't something I had drank last night or the night before. It had a sort of hoppy smell to it, it was actually the first beer I had found here that I could say for certain was made from hops, the flower was commonly used to make beer in my own world, it could give a number of flavors from citrus to bitter though this seemed closer to the bitter end of that scale. "That's fine, I'm not planning to drink any anyway." After speaking I turned the sack upside down and poured about a quarter of its contents into the pan with the onions and mushrooms. "Alcohol can be a very useful ingredient in cooking, you can use it as a sauce or stock to cook vegetables or meats in, as the beer evaporates it takes all the alcohol with it but leaves behind most of its flavoring and sugar."

It was a fairly common cooking method. Most vegetables had a high water content and as they cooked would dry up and while that wasn't always bad most of the time you would want to avoid that. To prevent that it was normal to add fluids to the pan as they cooked. I had intended to add drippings from the burgers but the beer would do much better.

"Ah, in that case carry on, I look forward to the meal." Frederick seemed to take my action in stride and merely returned to talking to with Chrom and Robin, I presume they were discussing strategies for Chrom's battle with Lucina. Vaike however had a different reaction.

"AH! You're wasting it! My alcohol!" Vaike made to grab the sack from me but was held back by Stahl, the cavalier gave me an apologetic grin as he restrained the larger man.

"Calm down Vaike, it'll taste better this way. You wouldn't know but I do use alcohol in my own cooking on occasion."

"I wasn't aware you cooked Stahl." I knew there had to be someone cooking for the Shepherds, I had assumed it was just one of the many chores they swapped around though, that whoever's turn it was merely made simple stews or roasted whatever meat they had on hand.

"Yeah, someone has to and I enjoy it." Vaike seemed to have calmed down after learning the loss of the beer would mean a better lunch. He still seemed to be lamenting the loss of one of his wine sacks but I had no intention of returning it, I'd need to add more a few more times before the onions and mushrooms were done cooking "I've gotten quite good over time but I've never seen anything like what you're making."

"Well I hope you like it, perhaps when I'm done we can take a chance to exchange some recipes." I could always learn a new cooking recipe, it was a lot like swords, I could never have enough of them and I'd steal them at any chance.

"That sounds like a good idea." Yes, I'd need to see about note taking, maybe Robin has some paper I could borrow.

Looking back to my work as I plotted to steal Stahl's knowledge on cooking I pulled the drip pan out from under the grill, using a mitten I had borrowed from one of the Shepherds to ensure I didn't burn myself. Pouring the grease into the pan with the potatoes I put the drip pan back on the fire before placing the pan on the flames. From there it was only a dozen or so minutes of flipping patties and shifting veggies with my spatula, all the while intermittently adding more beer to the onions and mushrooms.

Removing the now cooked burgers from the grill I took the loaves of bread that had come from both Lucina and my own supplies and those contributed by the Shepherds. They were small loafs, intended to be eaten by one person or shared between two. I was able to cut them in two and repurpose them as buns after removing some of each loafs soft interior. The cheese was a large wheel and after tasing a bit I found it reminded me of swiss. It was a little softer than swiss but still a fairly hard cheese. I placed each patty on a bun before placing some of the cooked mushrooms and onions on top, next was a slice of the cheese which began melting the moment it touched the hot vegetables and meat. Last I placed the upper half of the buns on top. Next to the burgers I placed the peppers as well as the extra mushrooms and onions. And in a third pile I poured the still hot french fries out of the pan.

"Food is ready!" Calling out to the group that had been loitering around the clearing until now they quickly formed a line coming up to the cutting board where I had placed the food. They each grabbed a plate and fork from the pile that had been brought out from the Shepherds stockpile. Unsurprisingly the first one in line was Vaike.

"Eh, what's with all the veggies? Where's the meat!"

"There's meat on the burgers, those would be the sandwiches, and there's only enough of those for one person each. Just try the vegetables, the mushrooms and onions were cooked in your beer and the fries were cooked in the grease from the beef so they'll be good too. You'll even like the peppers too I guarantee it." Though he gave me a sceptical look Vaike took a burger along with a small helping of the other foods before moving on. It was while I was helping Lissa to a serving that I heard him start eating.

"SO GOOD! How did you make vegetables taste so good Shirou? Are you sure this isn't meat in disguise!" He was shoveling food in his mouth as he spoke and I would have berated him for his manners but this was an army after all. Manners were the last thing on most soldiers' minds and I couldn't change that with one meal.

"I think I'll take some extra." I was so distracted by Vaike's outburst that I didn't notice Lissa take an extra serving of veggies while I wasn't looking. Looking towards those still in the line I could only hope there would be enough food. Surely they couldn't be as bad as Saber?

Sitting down on a log with my own plate of food I let out a sigh. After Vaike's reaction had been repeated by several others to a lesser degree serving them all had gotten harder as I tried to quell the chaos. Some of them were easy to serve, Stahl had only given me understanding look while he took his own portions and Robin had given me a sly grin as she came along. Virion had made a little fuss about eating with his hands but when he saw how Stahl was digging in he had stopped complaining quickly enough. Sully had been rather loud when she came up but hadn't caused any problems. I had to shoo Miriel off, she had wanted to ask me about how the alcohol had all faded from the food but left behind so much flavoring, she hadn't left until I had promised to tell her about it in detail later. I hadn't even noticed Kellam serving himself, the only indication he had come up was the missing food. Taking my fork I began eating some of the vegetables, hmm, would be better if I had some salt for the peppers, the fries could have used seasoning as well, maybe some garlic or paprika.

I heard the log squeak as my commander sat herself next to me. "I didn't realize you were this good Shirou. I would have had you start cooking sooner if I had known."

"Yeah, this might be better than a lot of the stuff I eat at the castle. Hey you should join the Shepherds! Then I'd get to eat this stuff all the time!" Lissa was seated not far away on a similar log the Shepherds had dragged into the clearing.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid I can't join you, I've lent myself to Marth's cause and until his goal is fulfilled I'll be helping him."

"Ohhh, come on! Whatever he's paying you we'll double, no triple it!" Lissa was a little too into this, especially if she was planning to spend military funds on hiring a chef.

"I don't believe that you have the authority to allocate funds, so I don't think you can pay him anything." Lucina had her there, though Lissa was a princess she didn't hold any special military rank, she may even have servants back at the castle but I doubted she had any ability to hire them, not to mention recruiting soldiers.

"But I do." We all turned to the newcomer as she spoke. "As the Shepherds tactician I have discretion over how I spend our funds so long as Chrom approves it. And based on the way he's drooling over your burgers I bet he'd also be willing to pay you quite a lot of money." Looking over towards Ylisse's crown prince it wasn't hard to see the way he was not so subtly trying to get Frederick to give him his food after he had finished his own. It also wasn't hard to see how Frederick was avoiding doing that very thing with any number of excuses, from preventing a stomach ache from overeating to worrying over any alcohol that may have remained in the food.

Looking back at Robin I could only describe the look in her eyes as hungry. Pushing that thought away I decided to have a little fun with this. "Hmm, I don't know while that offer does seem tempting I don't know if it'll be enough. I would need some spending money to get some new spices."

"Cut it out." As she spoke Lucina poked me in the side with her fork. "I'm not paying you now, no matter how many times they multiply your current pay your not going to get any more."

"You seem to be getting rather defensive about this, I hope you're trying to hold onto me for my skill in battle, and not my cooking." My smirk fell from my face as rather than answer me Lucina merely blushed the tiniest bit and looked away. By the root I was kidding! Was my food so good that it had taken priority over stopping Grima in her mind? Gods I hope not, I chose to ignore the possibility for fear of what it'd do to my sanity.

"Anyway he's right. I'm not here for money, so I'll be sticking with Marth for now. Though maybe one day we'll end up fighting together, if that time comes I'll show you some real cooking."

"Wait, you mean this can get better?" Blinking I looked towards Lissa, though she had been sulking about her inability to hire me herself my latest comment seemed to take her attention.

"Well, yeah. I made this using whatever scraps we had available after all. Plus I don't have any spices to use, not even salt. Even if this is good I can do a lot better." As I spoke Lissa's face went blank, I was worried for a moment before she spoke again.

"No! You've got to join us! You've got to join the Shepherds! We can make you an officer if you want! Or you can be a chef at Ylisstol, we can make you the head chef! Please!" I had to hold her back with one hand while keeping my food away from her with the other.

"No, I can't I have to stay with Marth for now. Calm down, I'm sure we'll run into each other again I can cook something better then."

"Really?" Oh, god, the puppy dog eyes. Why was it so cute?

"Yes, I'll get some spices after the tournament, I'll have one of my best recipes ready next time we meet."

"Okay!" Backing away from me she went back to sitting down next to her empty plate.

"You caved in rather easily Shirou." Looking to my side I noted the flat glance Lucina was giving to me. Bringing my plate back in front of me it took a moment before I noticed something wrong.

"You ate my fries." My voice and stare was hard as I looked at the culprit. Lucina was just popping the last one into her mouth as I spoke. She must have taken them while I was busy fending off Lissa.

"So that's what they are called. Yes then, I ate your fries." Bowing my head over my lap I sighed as I lamented my loss. I was so worried that Lissa would spill my food that I hadn't noticed Lucina eating them. Sulking as I finished off my remaining vegetables I could only wonder how things had gotten so chaotic.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Alright, second chapter of the day, a little shorter this time but still pretty action packed. This chapter is really just Lucina and Chrom's duel, as well as the conclusion of the tournament. I'd like to pose a question to my readers today, back in chapter seven a few people voiced their desire to see a female Morgan despite the fact that with female Robin Morgan would be a guy. And while that is impossible in canon this is fanfic and we're allowed to change those kind of things. Plus it doesn't make scientific sense that Morgan's gender would be dependent upon Robin's gender, it would really just be random. My own plans aren't actually effected by Morgan's gender either so I figured I'd leave it up to you people. I've put a poll up on my profile to select it, though you can also leave a review to tell me what you think and why you think that. I'll likely just choose whichever has the most votes though if it's close or something comes up I reserve the right to choose myself. The poll will be open for quite a while since we have quite a while before Morgan actually appears. This is my first poll so if there are any problems with it or ways you think it could be better don't be shy about shooting me a pm. Finally, thank you all for your support, and I give you the 9th chapter of Awakening to Battle.**

"So which sword will you be using?" Looking towards Lucina I took in both the weapons on her belt. We had separated from the Shepherds a few minutes ago, they had agreed to clean up the dishes from lunch seeing as they were their dishes in the first place and I had cooked. I had wanted to clean them myself but I had been forced to leave since Robin had wanted privacy to discuss tactics for the upcoming match. Lucina and I had decided to head to the arena early, we would have some measure of privacy there to plan ourselves, if only because almost no one approached us due to our recent fame from the competition. I had taken the chance to ask Lucina about her plans in the upcoming fight.

"I am not sure, though using Falchion against him would put us on an even playing field it would also surely reveal at least some part of my nature to him. On the other hand I am worried using Kaunta would make me too weakened to have a chance to defeat him. No offense to you but Falchion is a better sword and it is my sword. It was the first blade I wielded to battle and no other sword will ever replace it."

"Yeah, I doubt I'll ever forge a sword as powerful as Falchion." While Kaunta and Bumeran may have their uses when ranked against a Noble Phantasm they would never win, mystic codes and Noble Phantasms were simply at different levels, the same way no human could ever match a Servant, or almost none. Kuzuki and I had both fought and defeated Servants but in his case he had been under the influence of a Caster Servant's magic and for my own magic was simply the natural counter to my own opponent's style of fighting. "But you don't need to, or even want to win. If you use Kaunta you'll be able to go all out without having to worry about defeating Chrom by accident. And I chose that style of sword because I knew it'd fit your way of fighting better than Falchion. Falchion is your father's sword and it fits his way of fighting, even if you two fight so similarly there's differences to be accounted for in physique. The slimmer sword fits you better, and we don't want to have to explain how you have Falchion to them, your 'name' and mask are already suspect enough."

"You're right." Her sigh wasn't a light one when she spoke. "I suppose I am merely attached to this blade. For so long it was all I had left of my father."

I nodded. "And that's okay, no matter how all this turns out one day you'll be able to start using it again, after all we don't need to keep all this secret from the Shepherds forever."

"Hm, that was my intent all along. We will stop Grima from ever being resurrected then disappear so as to have as little impact on history as possible."

I looked at her in surprise, shocked that she had intended to sacrifice her happiness even should she be successful. Then, I laughed. I couldn't help it, it was so much like me. I knew, ever since the Grail War, just what awaited me at the end of this path and I had accepted, even welcomed it. But for her it may not be necessary. "We've already changed history so much. No matter what we do from here on you need to get rid of the idea of preserving history. Our goal is to change it after all, and we can't afford to hold back and fail because we were scared of changing something. So long as we can be sure you and your friends all get born we can be free to interfere as much as we want. Once you're born we could even just walk right up and tell Chrom everything."

I saw the way Lucina blinked, apparently the thought had never occurred to her. "I see, I will think about it. But I still don't want to deprive my other self of her future out of selfishness."

"And you don't have to, it'll be just like having another sibling." Looking across the arena I saw the Shepherds begin filling into the colosseum. "Anyway it's about time now, you should be going. You'll be using Kaunta?"

"Yes, if we want to hide ourselves for now it is necessary."

"Good luck then, don't push too hard or you'll end up winning okay?"

"My father is no pushover." She scoffed at the idea that he would lose so easily.

"Yeah, but neither are you. You don't give yourself enough credit." Though she didn't respond to my words as she walked away I knew she had heard them. Now, I'd better go see the Shepherds before they send Vaike or Lissa over here.

"Hey."

"Oh, hi Shirou!" Lissa waved her hands in the hair happily, as if I couldn't see her just fine without the motion.

"I'm glad you chose to join us Shirou, thanks again for the meal." Though Robin was less avid in her welcoming she seemed no less happy to see me.

"I figured it would be better than watching alone. And cooking was no problem, I enjoy it. And I should be the one thanking you for the food, we couldn't have eaten more than stale bread and jerky without it."

"The match is starting." I looked towards Frederick, who was seated further down before shrugging and plopping myself down next to Robin.

"That's an unusual sword. I've never seen one like it before." It seems Robin was interested by Kaunta, I wasn't surprised she hadn't seen a katana before. Even if they did exist in this world I doubted anyone on this continent forged them. I hadn't seen any of them since coming here and the smith I had talked to back in Ylisstol hadn't recognized it either. If a swordsmith had never seen such a blade then it was unlikely a tactician would have either.

"Where did you get it? Actually where did the both of you get your swords, yours is different from most other swords I've seen."

"Ah, I'm not surprised you haven't seen blades like them. They're based on sword designs from my home, which is quite far away. I actually forged them myself." I had found myself strangely proud of that fact, that I had created completely original blades, ones that, while not as powerful as a Noble Phantasm, did have their uses. It was a weird feeling, pride, the idea that I had done something that others should appreciate, owned something that others should envy. It was also completely new to me.

"Really? I didn't realize that you were a smith. A swordsman, a chef, a smith, and a mage, you have quite a lot of talents don't you?"

"Well actually my skill as a smith is just a part of my magic." Scratching my head I explained a bit while trying not to reveal any new abilities of mine. "Every time I create a weapon with my magic I am forging it, I'm recreating the process by which a sword is created so actually forging one by hand was actually rather easy."

"I see, I suppose that isn't that different from how a normal mage can perform more complicated spell work for less cost by understanding and manipulating the world, how they can create a larger more powerful fire by creating a small one then using wind magic to feed the fire air so it'll grow."

I nearly jumped when I turned to see Miriel sitting next to me with a stack of papers and a quill out writing. "Miriel, what exactly are you doing?"

"Taking notes, while I've given up researching your magic itself more knowledge on it could lead to a better understanding of magic in general." I was about to reply when the distinct sound of steel clashing reverberated through the colosseum.

Looking back towards the arena I took stock of the fight. Lucina was taking full advantage of her greater reach. Her sword had just enough length on it that she could clip Chrom with her attacks whittling him down but still stay out of his own sword's reach. Still, despite her greater reach and agility Chrom had enough of an advantage in strength that he could batter her sword while still defending from her attacks.

"Hmm, despite the fact that he's on the defensive Chrom has the advantage. At that distance even if Marth lands a hit nothing will be decisive, and Chrom's stronger than him so the current pace is exhausting Marth more." Robin's assessment was a good one, as expected of a tactician. If she knew all the factors in this fight it would've been the right one too, but she didn't.

"You'd be correct if not for one thing. Even if all that battering is wearing on Marth's endurance it's actually to his advantage."

"And why is that? My lord has gone through much harsh training in his life, he has the endurance for a drawn out fight and his sword won't be getting dull or damaged no matter how he uses it. I'd be worried about Marth's sword breaking out there." I listened as Frederick threw his own two cents in, it was a valid point. Falchion as a blade would never dull so long as the one wielding it was worthy. Any other blade was liable to break if it was treated the same way Chrom used the sword. In fact it wasn't a bad idea to use the sword in such a way as to try and destroy the opponent's blade.

"But Kaunta isn't an ordinary sword either."

"Kaunta would be Marth's sword?"

"Yes." I answered Robin's question even as she voiced it. "I forged it myself, and while it may not be as powerful as Falchion it is not without its own advantages."

"And what, pray tell, would those advantages be?" It seems I had caught Frederick's curiosity. Not truly surprising, he was a swordsman and while magical swords were not rare here they were not common either. And most of them were mass produced by one or two smiths or smithing families. The most common magical sword I had seen here was known as the Levin Sword, and despite the dozens I had seen I had only identified three smiths who made them. To see a magical sword so unlike any he heard of and to know the smith that made it? Any swordsman would become curious at the least.

"The sword takes in the strength of the blows it receives. As it stores that strength it uses it for two things. The first is to prevent damage to the blade, so the harder Chrom hits it the less likely it is to break."

"And the second?" The glasses wearing woman peered at me from under the brim of her hat. The talk of magic must have gained her interest.

It was then I saw it, there weren't many signs, and those that I had identified could be nothing more than preparation for a more powerful attack. Tensed legs, firm shoulders, tighter grip. It was only my knowledge of the sword and Lucina herself that told me what was about to happen.

"Just watch." I could feel my smirk grow as those present looked from me to the arena. Though I never looked at them, my eyes locked on my commanders lips as I waited for the sign she was going to activate it. Though I couldn't hear her say it I did see the way her lips moved before Kaunta flew forwards with ridiculous speed. The blow was a strong one, she must have charged the blade some in preparation for the fight. Though Chrom managed to block the attack his guard was sent high by it. He had to dive to the side in a roll to avoid Lucina's next attack and even then he came out with a scratch running across his side.

"What was that? Marth's attack was far stronger than any of his previous! It almost sent Chrom flying!" Robin's shock was evident in her voice, and based on their gaping mouths and wide eyes most of the Shepherds shared her sentiments.

"It was Kaunta's main ability, it uses the energy it has stored to unleash one powerful attack. It'll need to recharge now but it can be a very powerful ability when used right."

"And with the wound Chrom has suffered time is suddenly against him. It's not bleeding much but it will still sap his strength. And if he takes too long then Marth will be able to unleash another one of those attacks." This time Robin's own estimation of the battle was the exact same as my own. While Falchion was a powerful sword its strength didn't truly show itself unless used against certain types of enemies. Dragons or creatures weak to the holy or divine elements of Naga's fang. Against humans it was only a masterpiece of a sword, one that would never break or dull. Not weak by any measure but here Kaunta held the advantage, the blade couldn't be destroyed by Falchion as the more Chrom tried to break it the stronger it got, and unlike Falchion its own abilities were not circumstantial, and would work no matter who or what it was used against. I hadn't told Lucina to be careful without good reason, we did want Chrom to win after all.

Looking back to the fight it would have been hard to tell Chrom was injured by how he was fighting. Even if it was shallow it was a sign that he was not some green recruit, but had faced both battle and pain before, that he could fight through the stinging pain and heated wound. I knew exactly what he was feeling from my own experience, and I had seen several men and woman fall because they couldn't fight through the pain. Chrom was having no such issue, he moved with all the same strength and speed as he had before, if a little more cautious. While those in the stands with me knew the secret behind Lucina's sword Chrom had no way of knowing its effects, it wasn't surprising that he was fighting with more restraint while he tried to feel out 'Marth' all over again.

Lucina though had begun pushing more, with Chrom acting more cautiously my commander had more and more opportunities to go on the offensive. Though she had begun holding back, allowing Chrom a chance to reassess the situation, she still took many of these opportunities, striking with her own blade in both an effort to accumulate more power in it and wear Chrom down.

Of course, the Chrom that had wielded Falchion in the three wars yet to come would never have fallen here, his skills were too well trained, reflexes too honed, too experienced to be defeated so easily, by nothing more than a trick sword. And though the Chrom here and now was no where near the level of his future self there was some part of that skill or mentality that allowed him to find a path to victory. Then again maybe it was just stupid bull headedness, for despite the healthy fear he had for Kaunta and its effects when Lucina next lashed out Chrom chose to return to his original strategy of beating the shit out her weapon. Knocking her blade wide he went back onto the offensive with even more ferocity than he had displayed at the beginning of the fight.

Battering her guard I couldn't be the only one that saw his first chance. Lucina's weapon was out of position, low on her right she wouldn't be able to guard, though it wouldn't be for much longer, Chrom's own blade was high, he had the perfect chance to score his first strike. It wouldn't be a decisive one, merely a scratch, all so similar to his own wound. Yet instead of taking the chance to wound his opponent he instead struck at Kaunta. It baffled me, why would he choose to attack his opponent's weapon instead of his opponent directly. While disarming an opponent was an effective way to subdue them it was far more difficult and dangerous than simply killing or wounding them. And Chrom had shown no aversion to wounding his foes in previous matches, even dealing heavy blows to his other participating Shepherds, his own allies. That was when it hit me.

"I get it."

"Get what? What's Chrom doing?" I didn't even look at Lissa as she asked the question, too caught up in the duel unfolding even now. I was about to answer her even through my own reverie when someone else beat me to it.

"He's trying to stop him from using the sword." Glancing at her from the corner of my eye I noted how Robin was leaning over and staring intensively at the arena, likely similar to how I myself was acting. "He must've noticed how he gripped it harder before unleashing that stronger attack, or the second of preparation he took to use it. Regardless he's trying to stop him from using it, he's trying to prevent Marth from ever getting a chance to use it. If he never has that moment to prepare for it then he won't be able to use the attack. There must be something he needs to do in order to activate the effect, or some backfire for not taking that moment, right Shirou?"

"He needs to say 'counter' to activate the effect. Though that moment he's taking is actually to make sure he doesn't get dragged along too far by the attack. He only aims and fires the attack, he's not actually moving the sword himself, so if the blade moves too fast or with too much force then he can lose his grip or get pulled out of his stance." The moment wasn't inherently necessary, with enough training you could learn to control and predict the way Kaunta would drag you along. Lucina had been concealing its effect throughout the tournament though, and even if she had used it a few times in the past she was nowhere near mastering the weapon, and the little experience she did have with the sword's effect wasn't enough to lessen that preparation time or to conceal her weakness. And now Chrom was taking advantage of that.

Now, with Lucina on the defensive Chrom was pushing her back, driving her towards the arena walls. She began to circle, trying to get out of Chrom's reach and avoid getting her back against the wall. And though most had no way of knowing it time was on Chrom's side now. Despite the fact that he was bleeding and exerting far more energy than Lucina was Chrom still had the advantage of time. Only I and Lucina knew that there was a limit to the amount of energy that Kaunta could store. Too much and the sword would simply explode in Lucina's hands, leaving her wounded and disarmed against her opponent, it was similar to reinforcement in that way, my skill with that particular mystery had actually helped me in making the blade. We hadn't found the sword's limit but we knew it existed. I could see though, by analyzing the sword, how much stress it was enduring to contain the power. It already had more energy in it than it had ever stored at one time before and should it take too much more it may simply shatter. Lucina must have known it too, she was getting desperate and had begun acting like it. Her own defense becoming frantic as she retreated backwards and tried dodging more and more of Chrom's attacks rather than blocking. So when Chrom slowed down for the smallest of moments, likely due to exertion from just how fast and fiercely he was attacking, she took a chance.

Setting her stance and strengthening her grip she fired off her attack. It wasn't an opportune strike, Chrom noticed the attack and had more than enough time to almost casually place his guard, his own blade was at a slant against his side, with the flat of the blade being held near the point by his off hand, there was no way, Kaunta would break through and score a hit. But Lucina did manage to release the force stored in her blade, that would have given her more time in the match before her blade came under risk of being destroyed by its own enchantments again. Unfortunately she failed to control that force. She must have underestimated the power of her attack in her panic, Kaunta hit Falchion and slid up the side of the blade before going past Chrom's head into the air, dragging Lucina with it. She didn't release her grip at least, though it might have been better for her to have let the blade go as when it dragged her off balance Chrom took advantage of it. Rather than using his own sword he instead lashed out with his foot, kicking Lucina in the leg and knocking her to the floor. Before she could take a moment to recover Chrom placed his own sword on her neck. The crowd was deafening, it seems despite the disappointment they had felt at having both the semi finalists forfeit they had been more than satisfied by the finale.

"Tell Chrom I said congratulations." I spoke to the Shepherds at large as I rose from my seat. "I'm gonna go meet up with Marth now." I didn't wait for a response before moving on, I knew at least a few of them would have been listening even during their celebrations. Pushing my way through the foot traffic proved to be difficult if not impossible with my own stature. Though the average height here was larger than in Japan I was still on the tall side of things, and I was recognizable enough from my own matches that people tended to clear some space. It didn't take long for me to make it to the entrance to the pits, though I wasn't allowed inside. Despite having fought in the tournament only active participants were allowed inside and the only two remaining were just now leaving the arena. I didn't need to wait long for Lucina to come out though.

"Follow me." Rather than question her I simply took a spot a step and a half to her left and behind her as I followed her through the crowds and out of the arena. As we exited the arena and got some space between ourselves and the celebrating crowds I voiced my question.

"Where exactly are we going?"

"To the tavern." She didn't even look to me as she answered, so focused on some far off goal or invisible opponent. "We leave Arena Ferox now, we need to get back to Ylisstol as soon as possible to prepare." It took me a moment to remember why we needed to head back to Ylisstol. Once I had it figured out though I quickly realized just why she was being so urgent.

"The assassination." The day after tomorrow the Exalt of Ylisstol, Lucina's aunt Emmeryn, would be killed. In the same attack Chrom would be suffer a wound that would cripple him for life and impede him greatly in every fight yet to come. It was the first major event in a long line of crises that would lead to the resurrection of Grima. It was our first major challenge.

"Yes, we need to get to Ylisstol as soon as possible. The earlier we arrive the more time we have to prepare and plan. We cannot afford to fail here, if we do everything else is for naught." I could sense the urgency in her voice, the fear, the trepidation. They were all justified emotions and had their place in battle, but Lucina's voice held far too much of each.

"Calm down." I could see the way she was about reel at me, verbally tear me apart as she pressed on me just how dire the situation was. But I didn't give her the chance. "You're right, we need to get to Ylisstol and begin preparing as fast as we can, and this will be the most important fight yet. But fear and panic will not help. We need to stay cautious and approach this clinically, or we're liable to make mistakes." I could still feel her anger at my comments when I finished, but she had calmed considerably and after one final deep breath she spoke now calm once more.

"You're right. Above all else we need to be cautious. It wouldn't do if in our panic we missed a key detail or failed due to carelessness." She nodded once more before turning forwards and continuing on again as I followed. "We will pack our supplies and leave immediately. We can hunt or forage for food tonight and restock in Ylisstol. We should be able to make it to the Long Fort before nightfall."

"Even if we can get that far we'll have to stop early so we can find food while it's still light out. Finding food in the dark will take more time, time we could use to sleep so we can get up earlier instead, and it can be more dangerous if we encounter a bear or wolf." Even if the wild animals were no major threat in the daylight, at night we ran the risk of being ambushed. And even if we can kill them easily any wounds we suffer would just slow us down further.

"Hmm, you're right aren't you?" Though she voiced it her question was rhetorical. I did have to bite back the part of me that wanted to give a sarcastic reply. By the root I hated Archer.


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Time for Chapter 10, sorry my pace has slowed down since I started but I think this is going to be how often I update for the rest of the story. As the chapters have gotten longer and my plans for the story became more detailed the speed I can write a chapter has gone down and I've spent longer on editing and rereading the chapters to be sure that this is really how I want to do it. I'm happy to see that this story is getting a number of followers, the standard idea of Shirou being thrust into Ylisstol is just too intriguing for no complete stories about it to exist, and the idea of Shirou following Lucina rather than Chrom and Robin was my own interesting twist. A reviewer by the name of EternalKing pointed out that despite Katanas being rare in Ylisstol Killing Edges are katanas in the game, I forgot this because the last FE game I played was Fates and in that game they're just swords with a serrated edge. Though for the story my bullshit explanation is that the first Killing Edge you encounter in normal difficulty is the weapon Lon'qu comes with, so if you look at that as a Killing Edge then the Shepherds wouldn't have seen Katanas before the fight and Kaunta is closer to a real Katana than Lon'qu's weapon making it the stranger sight. That was a very good insight though, and something I had overlooked, it's those kind of continuity errors that I'm trying my best to avoid in my writing so thank you for pointing out my error. I'd like to apologize for the long AN, I've been trying to make them shorter but I seem to have failed this time, and present to you Chapter 10 of Awakening to Battle. Thank you all for your support, whether that is reviewing, following, favoriting, or simply reading my story and giving it a chance. It is you that encourages me to write and makes this more than just the idle thoughts of some guy on the internet with too much free time.**

When we stopped travelling for the night the sun was just beginning to kiss the horizon, we had made good on our estimations earlier so we were almost a dozen kilometers north of the Longfort. We had found a clearing a ways off the road into the forest to camp in, near enough to a river that we could draw water but far enough from the road that random travelers wouldn't disturb us. Lucina had gone to find wood for and prepare a fire while I found myself tracking down a deer that would hopefully become our dinner.

Based on the size and depth of its hoofprints it was quite large, I had tracked the prints from the riverbed, it had probably been getting a drink before bed. Luckily the tracks led upwind so it wouldn't be able to smell my approach. It was then that my reinforced hearing caught the sound of its feet crunching on the snow. Tracing a smaller hunting bow rather than the oversized one I used for combat I nocked a traced arrow and set up my shot, knowing exactly where I would hit.

Carrying the carcass on my back I stumbled into camp. Killing the deer had been the easy part. Carrying it all the way back to camp had been exhausting even with reinforcement, and I still had to gut and clean the thing. Dropping my haul I took note of the fire Lucina had set up, she must have finished her work quicker than I did because right now she was practicing with her sword. Analyzing it quickly it took a moment for me to realize she had been charging and releasing Kaunta over and over to get a better feel for how it acted.

Turning away from her for the moment I traced a large butcher's knife before getting to work on the deer. Cutting a small incision on its belly I opened its skin and began to carefully remove its stomach and bowels. I had to be especially cautious here as breaking open either would foul the meat and we'd be without dinner. Putting aside the guts I looked back into the cavity I had opened. Pulling out most of its other organs I put them with the stomach and intestines for disposal, I did however keep the liver. Cutting away the rest of the deer's skin I began to work on cutting away its meat. I had never actually cleaned a deer carcass before, in the past I had only ever killed smaller animals like rabbits or squirrels to feed myself. Yet the Blade Works held many knives and small blades with experience dissecting deer, the knife I had traced one of them. I was just lucky they had deer here, or that the deer they had were still herbivores and not deadly predators who ate the flesh of men.

Shaking away thoughts of the horrors that Zelretch could, and would, subject me to if I was ever found again I looked towards the deer meat I had managed to collect. There was little I could do to cook it with no spices, luckily I did have one option to bolster the meat's flavor. Tracing a cutting board I began cutting the meat into thick steaks. Next I diced the liver up into tiny pieces, the liver was an extremely flavor dense part of any animal due to its role in the body as a sort of filter, and it is considered a delicacy in many cultures. By cutting it up and cooking it with the deer steaks I could use it as flavoring for the rest of the meat, while the flavor wouldn't be as strong this way as it would when eating the liver whole it would still improve the deer steaks and some people found the liver too strong by itself anyway. With my newly butchered steaks and diced liver in hand I traced a frying pan and began cooking over the fire.

It wasn't long before the smell of cooked meat was wafting through the air. "They'll be done in just a few more minutes." I couldn't help but smirk as Lucina stumbled in her practice. She hadn't been as subtle as she thought she was when taking glances at the cooking meat. True to my word it was only a few minutes later that I pulled the pan off the fire before tracing plates, knives, and forks for the both of us.

"That magic of yours is almost too convenient. Doesn't it sap you mana too much to project so many things?" Lucina was looking at the cutlery I had supplied her with in wonder.

"It doesn't cost much at all for me to project small things like this, it's prana or od by the way, mana is prana as it floats in the atmosphere while od is prana that a magus themself produces in their body." The detail was a minor one but I felt Lucina would like to know the difference even if it didn't matter much. "These kind of things simply are too small to cost much to make, they can add up but it only takes a few minutes for me to recover the prana I used to trace each one so it won't have any impact on our next battle. The weapons that really cost me a lot to produce have some kind of enchantment or mystical effect, for mundane objects like this I'd either have to trace a lot of them or use my magecraft to reinforce or alter them too." I sat down and handed Lucina a plate as I held my own in the other hand. "So, what's the plan for stopping the assassination?" That was our first major goal after all. The tournament had been important, but actually failing there was nearly impossible. This was the first time we would actually be seeking to change history.

"We can slip into the castle using a hole in the walls. It was put there while Chrom was training with the Shepherds, it's well concealed and small but I'm fairly certain I'll be able to fit through."

"Will I?" Lucina looked up at me, the confusion evident on her face for a moment before she glanced at me. My commander's frame was thin and feminine, she would be able to squeeze through many holes that larger men would not, and though my own frame was not large for a man my size my body was more brawny than it was lithe.

"That, I'm not so certain on." She blushed a little at her oversight but it didn't stop her from continuing to eat. Bringing a bite of my own food to my mouth I began to think.

"I could probably scale the walls, they weren't nearly as tall as the Longfort and I wouldn't be getting shot at. But the guards may think I'm an assassin if I do that." It was an issue, it was possible I could simply try and enter after the assassins strike, relying on Lucina or the Shepherds to let me in but the risk that something may go wrong in my absence was not worth taking.

"The city walls." I glanced at her, not sure where she was going with this. "They're taller than the castle and not as well guarded, though they're quite a ways away. If you can sneak your way to the top of them do you think you can use your bow for support?"

Blinking at the suggestion I thought of what I had seen of the walls during my time Ylisstol. They were tall, though not as tall as the skyscrapers in my own world I liked to use for sniping. "Yes, getting up there may be a challenge but I'd have a good view of castle, but which direction will the assassins be coming from? I won't be able to see the whole castle so I need to set up from an angle where I'd be able to see the attackers."

"The south." She a took a moment to respond, probably trying to remember herself. "Though a few sneak in their main force break in through the main gates. That's where your support will be necessary." I nodded at her answer as I cleaned up the last of my meal and stood.

"Right then, I suppose I'll have to figure out how I'm gonna sneak up the walls tomorrow." At the nod from my commander I gave a tired sigh before moving to clean up the meal we had just eaten and store the leftovers. I still had to find a way to dispose that deer carcass too, wouldn't want wolves sniffing around camp.

It was just before noon the next day when we arrived in Ylisstol. While Lucina had gone to secure us an inn and check on her entrance to the castle I went to inspect the city's walls. We had been right about their height, though nowhere near the skyscrapers of my own world the walls were still quite tall. There weren't a lot of different ways to get inside of them however. At all four of the cities gates, one for each of the cardinal directions, there were two towers inlaid in the wall. While those were the easiest entrances to find they were also the most well guarded. With men watching them all throughout the day and more soldiers living in them at night sneaking into there wasn't an option. There were four more towers however, at the northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwestern edges of the wall. They were less guarded, with only a few men living in them and only a single watchman posted at the top of each tower. Of them the northern two weren't options since I wouldn't be able to see the assassins from the top of them.

In the end I decided that it was the southwestern tower that I'd be infiltrating. I had scoped out both towers and found one of the southwestern to be undermanned, I had spent several hours watching the place and as far as I could tell there were only three men living there. It would be simple to slip past two of them late at night before subduing the third at the top of the tower.

So it was on the night of the assassination that I made my way to the tower. Lucina would be on her way to the castle herself now, we weren't expecting the attack to occur for almost half an hour but it was best to be in position ahead of time in case anything went wrong. Making my way to the wooden door inlaid into the stone tower I noted that it was locked. That was easily remedied with some traced lockpicks before I moved in. As expected I found two of the men slumbering in their beds in a kind of communal space. They must have gone to sleep early so they wouldn't be completely exhausted when they were woken for their own shift later in the night. Making my way to the stairs I began the long ascent to the top of the tower. As I climbed the last few steps I peeked my head above the tower's floor to see the watchman staring blankly into the distance. Moving quietly I traced a club, a simple wooden thing in preparation to knock him out. He must have noticed the light from my magecraft because just before I struck him he turned to face me. Uttering a silent apology for the nasty bruise he'd have on his forehead I made sure he was unconscious before using some ropes I had brought with me to restrain and gag him.

From there I turned towards the city and reinforced my vision to begin looking at the castle. I spotted Lucina making her way to the walls, she'd be inside the castle in a few more minutes. Continuing to look I noticed several assassins who thought they were better hidden then they actually were. Rather than begin killing them I merely made note of their hiding positions. It wouldn't do to start things early, before Lucina could talk to Chrom and assure him she and I weren't assassins ourselves. It was almost twenty minutes later that I saw my commander approach Chrom.

Taking that as my sign that hostilities were about to start I traced my bow. The huge black thing had been Archer's originally, but like many other things I had taken from him I used it regularly. It was when Lucina killed the first assassin that I traced my first arrow, I was preparing to shoot my first target when a second unexpected assassin attacked Lucina. Under normal circumstances I was well aware she could take care of herself but the surprise attack would catch her off guard. I fired quickly but the assassin was still able to get off his first attack, and when Lucina stumbled on the previous attacker's corpse she was unable to fully dodge the attack. Fortunately, or unfortunately her mask was the only casualty, without it to restrain it her hair fell down behind her back. It was less than a second later though, that an arrow burst through the man's neck ending him as a threat.

I ignored the implications of Lucina being outed as a woman to the Shepherds in favor of striking several more of the would be assassins with my arrows. I also noted one intruder with some particularly orange hair, but ignored him when I remembered what Lucina had said about a certain candy loving thief. It was rather easy, picking off the assassins from so far away. Normally whenever I was sniping my targets were either too powerful to be killed by normal arrows or too well defended to be hit by them, sometimes both. It was refreshing to fight an opponent who was as limited by their humanity I am.

It was then that I saw a slender woman turn into a giant feral rabbit and remembered just how unfair the world was. Shaking off the shock of seeing an animal, normally as adorable as a bunny the size of a large horse, tear someone's head off with their teeth, I looked back to the battle. The Shepherds, along with the castle guard, had managed to rally their defense and were pushing the assassins out of the castle. Things were going well and it seemed the assassination would be thwarted with no major difficulties or casualties. Of course that had to be when things went horribly wrong.

It started with their leader, I had identified him early on, from the way he stood to the way his allies hovered around him it was obvious he had some authority. A tall man in dark ceremonial robes, if I hadn't known already that the grimleal were behind this his appearance would have been more than enough to raise suspicion. However, I had chosen not to target him simply because he hadn't been active in the battling. He hadn't moved out to attack the defenders himself and hadn't given any orders to his troops directly. So instead of attacking him I had chosen to engage many of the more active threats.

However when the Shepherds got their defence together and the first group of guards came out of the gates towards the remaining assassins he attacked. It was magic he used, powerful magic that I could smell even from this far away. Despite it being obviously fire magic I could smell darkness behind the ashes that the spell reeked of. The guards themselves stood no chance, their shields and armor did little to stop the pure heat of the attack. The men roasted in their armor as the steel equipment turned red, the hair on the bodies catching fire even as they screamed till they died. Of course it didn't end there, it never did.

Lucina and I had been working under the assumption that the assassins would be focused solely on the castle, and that all their troops would be dedicated to the attack from the very beginning. It was now that we were proved wrong, when a number of armed men, likely mercenaries, began pouring out of bars and taverns across the city. I had initially assumed they were planning to aid in the defense of the city, I also imagined they'd ask for an unrealistically large reward in gold afterwards.

It wasn't until the first one plunged his sword through a random passerby that I realized their true intent. They were a distraction, the city guards that would've been headed to reinforce the castle couldn't afford to ignore them because of the rampant death they would cause. For the enemy their worst case scenario was getting trapped between the city guards and castle garrison, and just like that they had prevented the city guards from moving to attack the assassin's they'd have to prioritize stopping the mercenaries. And just like the guards I had to prioritize as well, under normal circumstances I'd ignore the assassins, choose to save the people even if it meant the Exalt would die. One for one hundred. But here should the Exalt die then the road would be paved for Grima's return and many more would fall in that future. So I ignored the mercenaries and the plight of the townsfolk, closed my eyes to their deaths as fired on the mage.

It was a perfect shot, the arrow should have penetrated the base of his skull, where his head connects to the back of his neck. Even if the arrow failed to pierce all the way through it would have hit his spinal cord, it was a fatal shot and with his attention elsewhere he shouldn't have been able to block it with his magic, but of course he did. As the attack neared a whirlwind formed around his feet and blew my shot of course. Even with the arrows speed it was still light enough to be blown away by the gale. It must have been some unconscious or automatic defense spell since my target seemed just as surprised by the wind as I was. He turned around and it didn't take long for him to find me, I was still trying to figure out my best way past that wind when he spotted me. I wasn't sure how he had, even with the moonlight it was still dark out, I couldn't imagine him seeing much without my own enhanced senses.

Regardless he had found me, and was much quicker to decide his course of action than I was. My only warning were the sparks that appeared between his hands and the smell of ozone and darkness. Fortunately that was enough.

"Rho Aias!" I little idea of how strong his attack would be. What little magic I had seen in this world was different from my own, some of Robin's spells strong enough to match Rin's more expensive gemcraft. This man's earlier attack had been on the same level and I had no way of knowing if it was a weak or strong attack for his standards. So I went all out on my defense, knowing that I couldn't afford to get hit by the attack.

The sky lit up for the briefest of moments as a lance of electricity struck the seven petaled shield. The attack only lasted for a second but I could feel my hair stand on end from the charge of the attack. I was blinded by the attack for a few seconds before I regained my sight and could see my opponent's surprise that I had survived. What had my attention though wasn't the enemy mage but the status of Rho Aias, it was cracked. Though it was only one of its seven petals cracking it was no easy feat to damage the shield. I narrowed my eyes, I couldn't hold back against this man. Every moment I spent on this man was one more man or woman killed by the rampaging mercenaries, another chance for the assassins to slay the Exalt, every second held the potential of another live lost.

Dismissing Rho Aias I held my bow high once more. Calling forth the blueprints I needed I began to trace. "I am the bone of my sword." The sword came to my hands even as my circuits began to heat up with the od flowing through them. The weapon I had called for sprung to life in my hands, a sword, with a cylindrical blade. Placing the pommel of the sword on my bowstring like I was nocking an arrow I began to pull back the string. As I did I used alteration to reshape the sword. Stretching it, twisting it, reshaping the weapon till it resembled an oversized arrow more than a sword.

"Caladbolg, fly." Calling its name I released my grip on the bowstring, launching the weapon through the air. Caladbolg was the sword of Fergus Mac Roich, the rainbow sword was famed for having blown away a hill in life and held that same strength as a Noble Phantasm. Altered to be fired as an arrow what I had used was Caladbolg II, the spiral sword. As a broken phantasm its pure power twisted space with its passing and was one of my most powerful attacks in terms of raw destruction. Rather than pushing the sword to its limits before pushing past those limits to break the weapon I did as poor a job as I could reinforcing the weapon. If I had used the weapon to its fullest potential I would have risked the lives of the Shepherds who were fighting on the front lines. Even so, its strength was still enough that even as the same cyclone that had deflected my previous attack rose it was blown apart by the twisted space that was the passing of Caladbolg.

The explosion when the sword hit its target was far reduced from what I would normally be able to achieve with the sword, but it still served to kill my target as well as several nearby assassins. Now, with the assassins a non-threat I turned my attention to the mercenaries. Picking up the speed of my projection and shots I began picking them off. It wasn't long before they realized their loss and began to flee the guards. Some ran towards the city gates before they were ambushed by the garrisons, others moved into back alleys as they attempted to escape their pursuers and hide. Of course I didn't let them escape easily either, picking them off wherever I could spy them. Of course most of those that fled into the alleys ended up too concealed by the surrounding buildings for me to see them.

It was as I was attempting to aid in the cleanup that I heard footsteps coming up the stairs behind me. The soldiers below me seemed to have finally decided to check up on the sentry I had knocked out. Dismissing my bow I traced a chain and dagger. I didn't normally use such weapons, the training they required to use efficiently was too time consuming and most of the advantages they gave I covered using Kanshou and Bakuya as ranged weapons. However here I used the weapon as climbing gear, securing one end of the weapon at the top of the tower I used the other end to climb two thirds of the way down. From there I dismissed the weapon and allowed myself to drop, reinforcing my legs to take the fall with little more than some sore limbs. Turning I ran into a nearby alley and began making my way to meet up with my commander.

It wasn't much later when we met. Our planned meeting place had been on the outskirts of the townsquare. We had expected crowds to begin forming there following the attack in the night and knew we could use them to escape any pursuers and also to gain anonymity among the populace. Of course that also meant we had to find each other in said crowds. Luckily my commander stood out a little too much, between her bright blue clothes and armor, normally worn only by nobles or knights, and her bearing she tended to attract a good deal of attention. That attention was only increased without her mask as all around us were made aware of her gender.

Seeing her lurking around the edges of the square I made my way over. It didn't take long for her to notice me either, both my height and hair making me stand out. Rather than call out to me she merely turned and moved into an alley behind her, the message to follow was clear.

"-id it." I didn't hear what she said at first, which made it all the more convenient when she repeated herself. "We did it, we stopped the assassins."

"Not without a price." I thought of the people we had failed to save, those I had chosen to sacrifice in order to save Emmeryn.

"Yes, but we still managed to save my aunt, and if we had failed then there would have been many more deaths. We succeeded, we did it." I could feel the joy in her voice as she spoke, the pride and wonder at our accomplishments overnight. It was a feeling completely foreign to me, there was no use in pride after all, pride lead to overconfidence and weakness, time spent celebrating a victory was better spent looking for the next battle. Yet as I looked at the smile on her face I was reminded of when Kiritsugu saved me, her own grin was nothing compared to that moment, but I could see the smallest piece of his own feelings from that day in her expression. I couldn't help but grin as I allowed my commander to relish in our momentary success.

It was a few hours later that I found myself wandering the city on my lonesome. Lucina had decided that we'd be leaving the city the next morning, with Emmeryn's life safe our only remaining goal in the Plegian war was to limit casualties, and that would be best achieved by heading to the border where skirmishes were even now occurring. Yet we couldn't leave today since traveling in and out of the city was restricted due to last nights events, the guards were probably trying to round up any remaining assassins or plegian mercenaries and letting people in and out so soon would only hamper their work. So with our possessions packed and new supplies purchased I had found myself with the evening free. Lucina had banned me from practicing my combat skills since they would draw too much attention and there wasn't anywhere in the city private enough to practice in secret.

I had spent some time wandering the market, I had hoped to gain new additions for the Blade Works but all I had accomplished was wasting time. In the end I had decided to check up on James, the smith who had helped me to forge Bumeran and Kaunta. It had taken longer than it probably should have to find the store, I had simply gone to so many different shops that day that recalling which one was his and how to get to it was rather difficult.

I had eventually found it, though the sky was dyed red by the time I located the smithy. I was surprised though, to find a simple closed sign hanging off the door. It wasn't yet so late for them to close shop, and I doubt James would have stayed closed due to the commotion last night. He had to make money and with war coming now was his best time to do so. I considered leaving and returning next time me and Lucina were in Ylisstol but I had no way of knowing when that would be or if I would have the chance then either. Apologizing internally I knocked on the door and called out.

"James? Are you there? It's Shirou." I stopped knocking when I heard footsteps dashing down the stairs. I had heard these same footsteps before so when the door flew open and it was his son David there rather than James himself I wasn't surprised, only curious.

"Mister Shirou, er uh, what are you doing here?" His stuttering was only made worse by the shallow panting he gave off. It was strange, even if he had ran from upstairs he shouldn't have been so out of breath, he had been fine last time I was here. It took a moment for me to realize the source of his exhaustion, red eyes and stuffy nose, he had been crying.

"David," I felt the concern in my own voice grow. I knew what had occurred last night, I had been an integral part of it after all. And while nothing he could say would have changed my decisions last night I was fearful of what, or rather who, may have been lost last night. "where is your father? I was hoping to check in on his work with those enchantments while I was in town."

"My, my dad. He, last night when the men attacked he took one of the swords and went out to fight." He started to sniffle as he spoke, barely holding back tears. "He, uh never came back. I went to look for him in the morning, but, when I asked the guards and I found him, he was, he was."

"That's enough." I didn't need him to continue. I knew well enough what had happened. James, I wasn't sure if I could call him a friend but he was a man I was indebted to. He had allowed me the use of his forge and steel to create the blade I even now had at my hip as well as the one Lucina carried. And last night I had chosen to sacrifice him among many others just so I could save more. The worst part may be that I'd do it all again without hesitation.

"Are, are you and your mother okay? What's going to happen with the shop?" James was dead, and focusing on that would only drive his son further into sorrow. Changing the subject like this would help keep David focused on what was important and keep him from mourning too much.

"Mom, she's pretty bad. She hasn't been out of bed since I came back and she won't eat dinner. I, I don't know what's gonna happen to the store. Dad made plenty of stock so we can keep going for a while, and I know some stuff, like putting spear tips on the shafts or how to make an arrow, but it's not enough. I don't think I can do it, I don't know what to do." He was shaking now, and it wasn't difficult to imagine how hard it was going to be for him.

Just like in medieval europe, in this world the father was the family head and was expected to work to feed the whole family. If the father died his role was to be taken over by the eldest son. Here that meant David, he would be expected to provide for himself and his mother, and while he could keep going for some time with his own knowledge there was a limit to what he could do. And with his mother bedridden with grief he'd also have to learn to cook and clean for the both of them. The best he could hope for was to apprentice under another smith, but if he did he would have even more trouble providing for his mother as such jobs never really paid more than room and board.

"David, I'll help if I can." I grabbed the boy by his shoulders and kneeled down in front of him. "I'm leaving in the morning but I can cook you and mother some food tonight, then I'll teach you how to forge weapons." I could see his eyes grow brighter as I spoke, his smile was a painful frail thing and yet it was there.

"Th-thank you Mister Shirou!"

"Don't worry about it, I owed your father a lot, now come on. Let's make your mother some food."

It hadn't taken long for me to get some food going. I couldn't trace any cookware in front of the boy but that was fine since the family's kitchen held all the tools I needed. I had settled for making a stew, I had used some beef cuts that they had as well as a good deal of vegetables; carrots, potatoes, celery, and onions. Allowing the pot to simmer on the wood burning stove I had moved on to the smithy with David. Last time I had been here every tool was kept in its proper place and properly cleaned and maintained, all the materials had been carefully stored on the shelves and sorted by quality. While most of the smithy was still in the same condition several tools lied on the ground with scattered ingots, unwrapped leather, and wooden shafts.

"I-uh, I was trying to figure out how to make a sword earlier, ah-before you showed up. I-, ah I, didn't have time to clean up." The boy was standing behind me scratching his head looking like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Alright, let's start by cleaning this all up. Then we'll see what you know so we have somewhere to start from." The boy nodded enthusiastically at my words, then set to collecting the ingots off the ground and moving them to the shelf. Cleaning up the mess took longer than it should have, since I had to explain to David about how to clean and maintain the tools before we put them away, and how to tell the quality of an ingot, and how to organize the materials when they were stored. It was as we were finishing up that I found something special sitting on the workbench.

"David, what are these?" I knew what they were, probably better than he did. But that didn't mean I didn't want to hear what he knew about them.

"Ah, those are some throwing knives Dad was making before," he trailed off at the mention of his deceased father but quickly caught himself and continued. "Anyway, he said he was making them to try and learn how to do your enchantment right."

I looked back to the set of knives sitting on the table. Half a dozen of them, each with a set of enchantments on them and one more enchantment on the belt. The enchantments were based off of the magecraft I had applied to Bumeran, drawing the knives back towards the belt and each other when thrown. The quality of the enchantments was excellent, I could see in their history that most of them had been edited or rewritten at least two or three times, and the oldest had been rewritten four times and edited over a dozen times. Their enchantments would rival Bumeran's own, in fact they were closer to the effect of Kanshou and Bakuya I had been trying to mimic than Bumeran was, or they would be, if the enchantments worked.

"He never found a mage to finish the enchantments?" The runes inlaid in the steel and leather belt were inactive, no more magical than an inscription in a fancy watch. They were nothing more than decoration as they stood, but any mage capable of manipulating prana should have been capable of activating them. All you had to do was add the smallest bit of prana to the runes and they'd activate, from there the enchantments would draw prana from the air, the cost to maintain them low enough that they could be sustained on that alone.

"No, all the mages he could find were either charging too much, or wanted half the knives as payment. Dad wanted to sell them as a set so we never ended up getting them finished. Ah, you can do it right? You can enchant the knives, you did it for your own swords so you can do this too."

"Yeah, I can do it, though you should try and find a mage you can work with who lives here. I won't always be around, and once you start doing your own enchantments you'll want to get them activated as soon as you're done forging them, rather than waiting for me to visit."

"M-me? Making enchanted weapons?" The boys shouted in his surprise. I suppose it would have been quite the shocker. A few hours ago he was worried he'd never be able to learn to be a proper smith and now he was faced with the possibility that he may be forging enchanted weapons in the not so far off future.

"Well not tonight no, but eventually you should be able to do it. Now I'm gonna enchant these knives, are you gonna sit over there or are you gonna come over here and watch?" I smirked as David gave out a startled noise and scrambled over to watch as I completed James' last and greatest work.

It was a few hours later that I was leaving. David had made a good deal of progress in his skills. He was capable of making any number of small arms such as daggers or knives, he had already known how to attach the shaft of a spear and its head but now he could also produce the heads themselves. With enough practice on daggers and spear heads he'd be able to move up to producing swords on his own and with the stock his father had left him he had more than enough time to work his way up to there.

His mother was still doing poorly, but when he had brought her up a bowl of stew she had eaten it by the time David went to collect her dishes. I was getting ready to walk out the door when David came from the smithy holding something behind his back. "T-thank you mister Shirou! I don't know what I would've done without you."

I smiled at the boy. Not one of my bitter smiles that reminded me of Archer which I found myself giving far too often these days but a kind one, it reminded me of when I was younger, when I would help out around the school as the 'Fake Janitor'. "Don't worry about it. I'm happy to help and it gives me a good chance to get to use a forge."

"St-still. You've done so much for me. I can't let you go for nothing. I-I want you to have these and I believe my dad would have too." As he spoke he presented what it was he had hidden behind his back. Draped between his arms was the belt of enchanted knives James had forged. They had been stored them in the smithy when I finished the enchantments, we had decided against displaying them in the store at the time as David and his mother didn't need the extra attention the knives would draw, and they had enough stock at the moment to make it by without selling the magical weapons.

"I'm honored you'd want to give me these but I can't accept them. They're your father's greatest accomplishment, I can't take them." I wouldn't even have a use for them. From the moment I first laid eyes upon them they had been stored in the Unlimited Blade Works. From there I was capable of replicating them so long as I had prana, and I didn't need the extra attention from carrying even more enchanted weapons would draw. Honestly they'd be more of a hinderance than a boon for me.

Seeing the dejection on David's face I decided on an alternative course of action. "Tell you what. Why don't you keep them for now. But one day someone is gonna walk in those doors who could change the world, someone who will need those knives. You give them those knives, but only when you're sure they deserve them. That's the best way we can honor your father. Got it?"

The boy's attitude did a complete one-eighty. He went from dejection and sorrow to determination and pride. He knew the knives he carried were a great weapon, and among smiths it was accepted that the best weapons deserved the best wielders. I understood and found myself agreeing with the sentiment, I was a sword after all, and it took a great weapon and a great wielder to forge legends, to create Heroic Spirits and Noble Phantasms. In my own world I would never imagine the knives to have the potential of becoming a Noble Phantasm, even here I wouldn't expect that to be a possibility if I didn't know of the wars to come, of the potential apocalypse. New Heroic Spirits would be born, my commander likely among them, and with them new Noble Phantasms would be created.

Then the thought came to my mind that I could become a Heroic Spirit, not a Counter Guardian like EMIYA was, but a real Heroic Spirit existing in the Throne of Heroes, alongside the likes of Arturia and Heracles. It hadn't been a possibility in my own world, after all most of my battles had to be kept secret and fame was the number one requirement for a Heroic Spirit, but here though I kept most of my abilities secret my deeds would be public information with time and I would likely have to reveal my more powerful skills in the future.

Then there was the possibility of the weapons I had forged becoming Noble Phantasms, Lucina wielded Kaunta and her place as a Heroic Spirit was almost certain, between her titles as Last Exalt and wielder of Falchion she had earned her place before we even met. And should her legend grow it might incorporate Kaunta as a Noble Phantasm of hers, it would never be her strongest, that role would no doubt be Falchion's, but many Servants had Noble Phantasms for different classes or even ones they were simply summoned with in addition to their most powerful.

Saber had had Invisible Air, and if she had been summoned as Lancer she'd have Rhongomyniad, or as Assassin Carnwennan. The idea of Lucina being summoned as Assassin with her mask and Kaunta under the false name of Marth wasn't unbelievable. The prospect was both extremely humbling and very embarrassing, I would never be able to live it down if the weapons I had ended up named counter and boomerang ended up in the Throne of Heroes. Even if it was unlikely I couldn't allow James' knives to end up with a similar fate.

"Alright mister Shirou. One day these knives will be as famous as Falchion!" I laughed at his choice of weapon. Lucina had best watch herself. "But they're gonna need a name first. Could you give them a name mister Shirou?" I felt a brief spike of fear when he looked at me to name the weapons.

"Alright, but just call me Shirou okay?" I tried to keep a cool exterior while I was panicking inside. I couldn't name them something like return in japanese or something, that hadn't gone over well last time and I didn't want any other mistakes of mine running around. I considered naming them James, after their deceased creator, but the name would probably cause more pain for David and his mother than relief. One name came to mind and stuck there, and I had to think it over to decide if it was actually good or if I was just being an idiot again. I decided without Rin or Lucina here I had no way of reliably knowing if it was just my stupidity or if I had an actual good idea and just decided to go for it.

"Memento." I spoke the name I had come up with. "A memento is an object left behind by the deceased, something close to them, given to one of their loved ones as something to remember them by." It fit the circumstances around the knives, and despite being an english term it wasn't a common enough word to cause an issue. "It also works for the enchantment since a memento is meant to keep your loved ones close even if they're dead, and the knives come back to the wielder." I thought the name fit the knives, and it seemed David agreed.

"Memento." He spoke the name, feeling it out. His eyes began to tear up yet his smile only grew stronger. He used one hand to wipe his eyes as the other clutched the knives close to his chest. "I like it, thank you so much mis-er, Shirou!" I smiled at him and chose to ignore his brief slip up.

"It's no problem David, I'll visit again next time I'm in Ylisstol. Take care of the smithy okay?" My only response was vigorous nodding as I turned and walked out the door. I took in the dark chilly streets and there was only one thing I could think of when I saw how late it was.

"Lucina is gonna be pissed."


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: It's that time again, I would start by answering the reviews I got about Caladbolg being overkill but I think Shirou says it best. I'll just say that it probably was overkill but oftentimes too much is better than not enough. I'd also like to talk about the length of these chapters, the first chapter was only 4.5K and this chapter is over 10K. As you can see they've been getting longer and they will probably continue to do so. I'd also like to apologize for the cliffhanger I put at then end of this chapter, I've never liked cliffhangers in FanFiction because updates are so rarely reliable. I can only promise to post the next chapter soon, I'm shooting for Easter but you never know what might happen. With that I'd like to once again thank you all for all the support you've given this story and in return give you Chapter 11 of Awakening to Battle.**

"I know I didn't tell you to be back by a certain time, but that doesn't mean I want you wandering the streets in the dead of the night." As was quickly becoming a common occurrence in our partnership, I found myself being chastised by Lucina for my own tardiness. I swear I don't know how this was happening. I wasn't normally late, as a high school student my attendance had been nearly perfect. I never had to miss due to illness and I was rarely if ever late to class. Though I did tend to leave early so I'd have time to help around the school or even people I met on my way to school in those days. And I did often end up staying late to help out at school, sometimes till very late at night when it had been dark for some time. And I had tended to stay up till late at night practicing magecraft in my workshop. Shit, it is my fault isn't it?

"Are you even listening to me?" Startled out of my thoughts as my commander raised her voice I looked back up to see her even angrier than before.

"Er, yeah. Of course I'm listening." The sigh she gave told me she didn't believe me but there was little I could do to convince her otherwise, especially when she was right.

"What were you doing anyway?"

"Ah, I went to visit the smith who helped me make our swords. I ended up helping around the house and teaching his son about forging weapons." Lucina had barely even met James, only seeing him long enough to drag me away from the smithy.

"Why were you teaching him? I'm not too familiar with the practice but don't smiths usually teach their own children?"

"James, can't teach David anymore. He died last night." I could see the surprise on my commander's face. That was to be expected, just like me there was no reason for her to expect him to have fallen last night. Civilian casualties had been extremely low, and we didn't exactly know a lot of people in Ylisstol. The odds that one of our few acquaintances here, and the only that wasn't a soldier, would die in last night's battle was astronomically low.

"I-I see. I guess even if we won last night it wasn't without its costs." She looked to Kaunta as she spoke, the blade resting against the bed frame in its sheath with Falchion nearby. I didn't have to guess what she was thinking about.

"You can't save everyone, the idea that you can is nothing but ravings of a naive fool. I made the decision last night, that I would risk the lives of the civilians over the Exalt's, his death and anyone else who fell is my own burden to carry." One life for ten, ten for a hundred, and a hundred for a thousand. It was an awful thing, a practice that abandoned the few for the many. It was also the crux of my ideal. Saving everyone was impossible and I had seen how Archer struggled to accomplish just that in the beginning. In the end his attempts had just cost even more lives and he eventually gave into the idea that the few must be sacrificed. And while every life I failed to save pained me I made the choice to save the many, because if I didn't then either more would die or someone else would have to. And I refused to share this cursed fate with anyone.

"I'm aware of that. I was forced to learn that with the blood off my allies, my people. But to see a man who helped the both of us so much fall, it is not easy, even if I did not know him." I nodded at her words, his death was unfortunate.

"That is why I must do what I can to help his son. David already understands I can't be on Ylisstol often, but when we do visit I hope I'll have the time to visit him, even if only for a few hours." Whether I did or not didn't my decision though, it was my commander's.

"As your commander I'll make sure of it." I smiled at her words, fortunately I had a very good commander. "Speaking of last night, I have to question your decision to use that explosive attack, and I'd also like to know exactly what it was." The look she gave me was more testing than harsh, so I suppose she wanted to know why I had decided to use some of my more esoteric abilities rather than punish me for doing so.

"It was a sword, or rather a sword I had altered to be an arrow. Its name is Caladbolg, a Noble Phantasm like Falchion, and when used right it is one my most destructive attacks, though I limited its damage last night. I had been relying more on its sheer piercing ability than the destructiveness it caused to kill that magus last night, I didn't want to risk a prolonged fight with him after he managed to block my first attack and with the power of his lightning I was worried he might have even more powerful spells to defend himself with if I gave him the chance."

"Rather than a mage he was more likely a sorcerer, the title for an advanced dark mage." I nodded at her words, mentally filing away the proper term. "Still this could reveal that you have abilities beyond simply creating mudane swords with your magic." I was ready to concede the point to her when a thought occurred to me, another lie to explain away my abilities. I had gotten quite good at coming up with them after so long with Rin as my mentor after all.

"Well, the Shepherds know that I can forge magical swords, I told them that it was I who made Kaunta during your fight with Chrom." Lucina rose an eyebrow at my words, probably wondering why this hadn't come up before, but she allowed me to continue speaking. "If I claim that I merely forged a weapon meant to explode on impact then no one will have reason to suspect I made it with my magic rather than my hands."

"Hmm, that would work, though could you actually forge such a weapon? It would help sell the story if you were to create one at some point in the future and it may have its own uses." I opened my mouth to voice my denial before pausing for a moment to think.

"Maybe." I settled for. "Forging a sword that will explode if it's struck violently isn't all that hard." It was actually an easy mistake for a novice mystic code crafter to make, if any material couldn't handle the prana the enchantments had in them it would explode just like an item reinforced too much, and the wrong combination of runes, symbols or whatever you used to enchant a weapon would produce the same results, designing a mystic code to intentionally self destruct would actually be easy. The tough part would be trying to get as violent a reaction out of it as possible. "I could make one, the problem would be getting it to be as strong as Caladbolg was last night, even weakened it was still a Noble Phantasm. I'd never be able to get the same speed from a weapon I forge myself but I might be able to get that level of an explosion."

"Very well, it is something to consider in the future." My commander seemed happy enough with my reasons for using Caladbolg, and my cover for explaining the powerful weapon. "For now we must plan our next step."

"Well, what are our options?" I quickly reviewed Falchion's history. After Emmeryn's death Chrom would rally both Ylisse's troops and the forces of Ferox to defeat the Plegians. It would be a bloody war and would end with Gangrel's death. "We could just assassinate Gangrel now and try to end the war that way. It would likely be seen as a counter to the attack on Emmeryn."

"No, that would only pacify the Ylisseans, the people of Plegia would only see it as vindication for the war." I sighed at her words, as much as I would like to end the war with a single death, Gangrel was reasonably popular amongst his people. They desired revenge for the wrongs committed against them in the previous war by Chrom's father and Lucina's grandfather, and Gangrel swore to give it to them. "We really only have two options, we can follow the Shepherds for a time, they are bound to get into battle and will eventually make up the main force of Ylisse's army, or we can head to the border to fight. Plegia has been sending raiding parties into Ylisse for some time now so there we can limit the destruction they cause and weaken Plegia's army for when the war truly begins."

"If we follow the Shepherds we're more likely to face questions we don't want to answer. We can also trust them to succeed in almost any battle while the border guard is much weaker. Rumor has it the Shepherds are heading east too, they aren't likely to see any serious battle until they head towards the western border and we can join them there." I laid out each options pros and cons as I saw them. Though I left the decision to Lucina we could both see where this was going.

"Alright then, tomorrow morning we march to the border, most of our operations will be scouting or sabotage. No matter how powerful your magic is you can't face an army alone." She paused for a moment before looking to me with scepticism. "You can't can you?"

"No, my trump card has a range limit and I doubt I could use it against an entire army." In theory I could drag an entire army into the Bladeworks, but I had no idea how to do so, and even if I knew how the prana cost might still kill me. "And even my most destructive weapons couldn't hit an entire army at once and using them enough times to hit them all would kill me through the prana cost. The best I could do in a straight up confrontation would be to cause mass casualties or force the army to slow their march, and those could both be accomplished by guerilla warfare in the first place." Lucina nodded at my assessment, killing an entire army had of course been beyond her expectations for my abilities. That was the kind of thing that would take a specialized Heroic Spirit or one with enough prana and endurance to fight for hours or days on end. Even in the Fifth Grail War few of the Servants could've accomplished that. Not even my own servant, Saber, would've been able to do it, if only because I didn't have the prana to let her fight for that long or use Excalibur that many times.

"Well that will be what we do then." For a moment I thought she meant attacking the army head on, but I quickly realized what she meant. "You don't happen to have any experience in those kind of tactics do you?"

"Only in working against them. More often than not guerilla fighters tend to lengthen a war, and cause unnecessary casualties. Since I rarely care for the reasons behind a war, only for limiting the death caused by them, I've always had to work towards removing them rather than working alongside them." I glanced at Falchion out of the corner of my eye, it was easier to see its history with the original in front of me than it was by relying on the blueprint stored in my reality marble. "I assume you don't have any experience in the practice either?" It wasn't actually an assumption since I knew the history of her battles from Falchion, but it was polite t let her speak for herself.

"No, the Risen were never organized enough for such strategies to work on them. The closest I got was commanding a small group of travelling survivors, and even then few of us were proper soldiers and we mainly just worked to avoid battles." She also glanced to Falchion as she spoke, though I've no clue to the thoughts that ran through her head as she saw the sword. "I'll be relying on your experience then, we'll leave in the morning when the gates reopen." I nodded at her orders and began going through plans in my head. Methods to sabotage wagons or lay traps withthout the C4 and advanced weaponry I used in my own world. Weapons suitable for ambush and methods to secure poison for tampering with troop rations. It was with these thoughts that I fell to sleep, a refreshing change from my usual dreams of fire and death or swords and blood.

It was the next day and Lucina and I had been marching west towards the border while discussing the plans I had come up with for sabotaging the plegian army. She had been receptive to the idea of laying traps and ambushes for the army, and to the idea of sabotaging their wagons or carts to break easily. But when I started talking about poisoning their food she got upset. It wasn't like I didn't understand where she was coming from, I didn't normally like to ruin a perfectly good meal like that either, but the kind of slop they'd be serving in an army of that size didn't really qualify as real food anyway, especially in a time when the only options for preserving food was smoking it or salting it.

It was as I was defending my idea of trapping rats and letting them loose in their supply convoys that I noticed something strange on the horizon. "That's a little too much smoke for a campfire." Lucina glanced at more for a moment, startled by the sudden change of topic, before she followed my gaze. It took her a moment to find the smoke, I had only noticed it because I had been intermittently checking ahead of us using reinforced sight for ambushes or our goal.

"You're right, even if it were a bonfire I wouldn't expect to see that much, perhaps a forest fire?" I glanced at the shrubbery just off the side of the road from where we were, noting the water still clinging to the leaves.

"No, it just rained last night. Even if it was a forest fire there wouldn't be that much smoke without drier wood, and I doubt the fire would spread so well. Are there any villages in that direction?" If a village had caught fire I would expect about that much smoke. Most houses in Ylisse were made of wood with some kind of thatch or hay roof. They would burn far too well and create a lot of smoke as only the exterior of the house would be wet with rainfall. The fire could've been caused by an accident or a bandit attack, either way we'd likely want to investigate the village to see if we could help.

"There aren't any villages out that way, the only thing out there would be," Lucina trailed off there and by the look on her face I could tell something was wrong.

"Commander?" I used the title that I had given her in jest but had become increasingly serious over the past week and a half.

"The border fort," she answered my question and I immediately knew why she had gone silent, "the only thing out that way is the border fort it's more stone than wood but there's a number of buildings inside of the fort. And if any part of it has caught fire then,"

"There's been an attack." I finished her words for her, and I saw the motion as she nodded from the corner of my eye. The odds of an accident were simply too low to be considered especially when Ylisstol was at war with their western neighbors.

"We need to move, if it's the Plegian army then the fort won't hold, the peacetime garrison isn't strong enough and Emmeryn hasn't deployed any extra troops yet." She turned and looked me in the face, not with the look of the young woman she is, but with the look of a commander ordering her troops to battle. "Your reinforcement magic, how fast can you get there with it?"

I took a moment to think, observing and estimating the distance from where we were to the smoke's source. It was still fairly far off, on the far edge of the horizon, but if I were to reinforce my legs to the limit I'd be able to run faster than an olympic sprinter and hold that speed for hours on end. "Twenty minutes, twenty five if the terrain gets rougher than it is now or I have to deal with enemies on the way." The blue haired woman beside me nodded at my assessment, the time frame I had given didn't seem long, but in a battle every second could feel like an hour and there was no knowing how things could change between now and when I arrived at the battle.

"Go, I'll catch up with you as soon as I can. The battle has likely already been lost so simply try to delay them from taking the fort and try to save as much of the garrison as you can. But whatever you do, don't die. We can afford to lose this battle but you are too valuable to my goals to die here." It took a great deal of restraint for me to stop myself from denying her orders. From announcing that I'd sacrifice my own life if it meant I'd be able to save even one more ylissean soldier, or holding back the plegian forces for an extra minute.

"As you command." But in the end I accepted her words, my trust in my new commander and desire to ensure Grima was never resurrected winning out against my suicidal tendencies. "But you should go warn any nearby villages rather than follow me, when the Plegians break through they may start sacking the villages and the people will need all the time they can get to evacuate."

There was a flash of indecisiveness across Lucina's face, her mind was probably running at a mile a minute with adrenaline as she weighed her options. "Fine, I'll work to evacuate the villages, you take care of the fort's garrison. You'll need to buy us even more time if we're gonna save the villagers."

"Consider it done, though it may mean I have to reveal more of my magic." It was a cost I was more than ready to accept, but I still had to run it by Lucina.

"That's fine, there are enough lives at risk here to warrant such a cost."

I nodded at her before turning as I opened my circuits and began pushing prana into my legs. Upon finishing my reinforcement I began sprinting towards the horizon, my senses fully enhanced as well so I would be able to anticipate any ambushes on the path ahead in case the Plegian army was trying to intercept any reinforcements.

As I ran and the fort drew closer I noticed a shadow fly across the ground in front of me. Expecting an enemy attack I dove off the side of the road and drew Bumeran before looking to the sky. It wasn't the blue cloth, draped over the side of the pegasus that denoted a Ylissean pegasus knight that drew my attention, but the still bloody spear the rider clutched that reassured me that this was not an attack. The dedication to mastering the art of wielding the weapon impressed me. The wielder's efforts were exceptional even amoung the greatest of mundane weapons I had seen and could be compared to many Noble Phantasms without falling short. Though my attention was quickly drawn away from the lance and to the blood leaking from both the side of the beast and the head of the rider.

Walking back to the road to make myself more visible I sheathed Bumera and then reinforced my lungs as I brought my hand to my mouth before blowing hard. What would normally be a whistle that would be audible from the other side of a busy street became something loud and shrill enough that the rider heard me loud and clear even from so far in the air. I saw her pause in the air and start glancing around, likely expecting some kind of attack. It was when she looked down and saw me that I waved my arms in the air to draw her attention. I could see that way she paused, contemplating whether to stop and deal with me or to ignore me and continue on her mission. Ultimately she must have decided that I needed to be dealt with.

She landed quickly, barely slowing her descent and I saw the way her mounts knees buckled as they hit the ground. The rider wasn't much better, only keeping her seat because of the leather straps that held her in place. "You need to turn around, the border fort is under attack and I don't know how much longer it will hold." I took in the woman before me in detail for the first time. Her long red hair slick and matted with blood, some hers but most not, more blood covering her forehead and the side of her face, not all of it dry. It was as I noted these features and the history of her spear that I put two and two together and recognized her identity.

"Cordelia."

"Did you say something?"

"Ah, nothing." I had spoken her name barely above a whisper so it seemed she didn't recognize just what I had said. Cordelia was one of the Shepherds that Lucina and her blade had told me about. A pegasus knight and a perfectionist, she would become one of the most skilled fighters in all of Ylisse, perhaps even the continent. And right now she was fleeing from the very fort I was heading to help defend, it must've been even worse than Lucina and I anticipated, Cordelia would not have retreated willingly, not if there was a chance of victory. Cordelia herself seemed to view my dismissal towards her with suspicion at first, but she must have decided that it was irrelevant.

"Fine, but you still need to turn around. The Plegian army could break through the fort at any minute and I don't know if you'll be able to outrun them. If they catch you they'll likely kill you."

"The only thing I need to do is bandage you up, you look like you could drop dead from blood loss any moment." I wasn't exaggerating either, the only reason she looked this good was because her hair was red, a useful color for concealing dried blood as I knew from my own experience.

"I can't afford to stop, I need to inform the Exalt of what's happening. I've already wasted too much time on you." She almost took to the skies after that, already preparing to command her mount, fortunately my next words stalled her.

"You probably won't survive to deliver the message as you are now. You'll die from bloodloss before you get there, and even if you make it you'd be too delirious to give anything more than a frantic message, things like troop numbers, compositions, and battle tactics will be too important for you to forget them because of your stubbornness." My words caused her to flinch back in thought, but the motion itself must have upset some wound because next thing I knew she was holding her head in a gauntleted hand. "Your pegasus is also wounded, but if I can patch her up she'll probably be able to fly faster than she can in her current condition."

I could see her emotions warring on her face as she faced indecision before she gave up. "Fine, you can treat Aurora's wounds, but I'll handle my own while you work on her." I nodded at her words as she began to dismount, stumbling as she fell down. I caught her with one arm as I removed my pack with the other, opening it to access the medical goods within.

"I have vulneraries and bandages, take whatever you need, don't hesitate." I saw her eyes go from me to the pack before she stood straight and began rummaging through the contents of my bag as I held it out to her. "I don't suppose vulneraries work on pegasi?" I asked absently, the woman looked up at me with a raised eyebrow and I merely shrugged. I wasn't too clear on what the medicine was made of, and though I knew it did great things for a human's body I had no idea how it would affect the flying horse.

"She can't drink the stuff, it'll only upset her stomach. You can still use it to disinfect her wounds though you need to be gentle." I nodded at her words as she finished in my bag, pulling out two of my vulneraries and a roll of bandages. Turning she began to remove her armor so she could dress her wounds, I also turned towards her mount and began inspecting it for wounds. "There's not a lot of stuff in there, nothing more than medicine in fact."

"I ditched everything else when I saw the fire." Cordelia paused in her work and glanced at me when I spoke, though I didn't bother to slow my own task as I answered her. "I can replace the spare clothes and sleeping bag for a few coins at any town, and I can always hunt for more food later. The medicine was the only thing I'd need for a battle." I actually wouldn't need it, it'd take a lot more than whatever Gangrel and his army could deal out to stop Avalon from healing me, or at least stop Avalon without also killing me. Any medicine I had would work far slower than Avalon and require me to stop and apply it, I really only needed it to treat the wounded like Cordelia.

"Wait, you mean you intended to head towards the battle? Knowing what was occurring?" Bending down I inspected a cut on one of the pegasus' legs. It didn't reach bone but it hit some rather important muscles, or rather they'd be important on a horse as they relied on walking and running to get around, it was probably far less serious a wound on a beast that could fly. Still I poured some of the vulnerary onto the wound, used one hand to rub it around and properly clean the cut as the other, still grasping the wine sack full of medicine, stroked it on the side as I tried to keep it calm through the pain. I could tell it was a battle mount from how little it resisted me.

"Yes, if Gangrel's forces break through the border they'll have free reign to go anywhere in the country." Emmeryn still had not mobilized the army so that meant the all the nation's forts except for the border were unoccupied, and no village militia would be able to resist Gangrel so he could march his army literally anywhere without worry of having his supply trains cut off. "I don't expect to stop his army but I should be able to slow him down, even if just a bit. And if I can save any of the soldiers in the fort then we may be able to put up some resistance if he wants to march around the country.

"All you will accomplish is your own death. You should flee east, back to the capital. If you want to help in the war I'm sure you could join the army there. All you'll accomplish by heading to the fort is your own death." I would've turned to look at her as we argued, but the rustling of cloth I heard had me suspicious of just what was going on. I suppose that would be the only way to get at some of the wounds she'd need to dress, but to do it in the middle of the road, and with a man nearby to boot. I suppose that level of dedication was to be expected of one of the Shepherd's best.

"That remains to be seen, and someone has to buy you the time to deliver your message, especially now that I've slowed you down further." I could feel her glare boring into the back of my head as I admitted my actions would likely cost her time, but I did my best to ignore it and continue talking. "I know what I'm getting myself into, and it won't be the first time my life has been at risk."

"I will not allow any others to sacrifice their lives for me!" I could only wince as she yelled at me, her anger was justified and her bitterness understandable. After all, I had seen the history of her weapon, from the day it was forged to this moment right now, and I didn't even have to go back half an hour to start seeing the deaths of her comrades.

"As if." my casual dismissal of her rage startled her but I merely continued to work on her ride. Moving up I came to the wound on its side, a large gash that would likely scar no matter what I did here. I poured the rest of the vulnerary I held onto the wound before I started to wrap the wound, tightly enough to stop the bleeding but it also needed to be loose so that she could continue to breathe without restriction. "If I die it's not for you, and I doubt anyone else today died for you either. If I die it's to save as many of the people of Ylisstol as I can, and while I can't speak for your comrades I'd wager they had similar reasons, perhaps a loved one or maybe out of loyalty to the Exalt." Everyone had their own reasons for going into battle, for killing, but it took something greater to face your death willingly, and all those that had encouraged Cordelia to retreat must've had their reasons. "You have a reason too, don't you? A reason to face death willingly that is." I didn't look towards her as I spoke, fearful of what state of dress she may be in, but the silence she gave was answer enough.

"There, done." Tying off one end of the wrappings I began placing the armor and saddle back onto Cordelia's mount, checking one last time for any wounds I may have missed as I did so. "Your pegasus, Aurora right?" I heard her mumble of affirmative over the sound of rustling clothes. "Aurora's wounds have been treated to the best of my ability. You'll still want to find a proper healer, but that can wait until after you deliver your message." I heard the tell tale sign of buckles being strapped and knew that Cordelia was not only done with her own wounds but was already putting her armor on so I turned to look at her.

She didn't look much better, blood still matted her hair and stained her armor, though instead of blood her forehead was instead covered in bandages. I had no way of knowing where else she had bandages as they would be covered by her armor and clothes, but I could tell by the lack of any leftover bandages that there must've been a lot. "You should go now, you can get properly healed once you've delivered your message. I'll buy you whatever time you need." The woman looked at me as I spoke, a strange look on her face, she opened her mouth likely to protest before shutting it again with a sigh.

"Very well, though I must ask you don't lose your life. Too much blood has been spilled today and I can't allow anyone else I am indebted to do die." She moved past me as she spoke, grabbing her lance from off the ground where she had left it as she mounted her pegasus with the grace of one intimately familiar with the action.

"Someone else has already made a similar request of me." I couldn't help but rub the back of my head at the unreasonable demand. "Don't worry about me, I've lived through worse." I was starting to question if I'd even see something worse than what I'd already lived through, between the fire, the Grail War, and Dead Apostle hunts there wasn't much out there that could trump my experiences.

"Thank you, sir. My name is Cordelia, likely the last member of my squad of Ylissean pegasus knights." She made a regal image, astride her pure white pegasus. Even blood stained and bandaged as they were it only reinforced the idea that she was a true soldier, who had seen real battle, and not some fresh recruit posing or a rich noble who bought their position with money or influence.

"I am proud to have helped. My name is Shirou Emiya, and I am, something of a mercenary." I could see the surprise flash across my fellow red head's face as I admitted to being nothing more than a sellsword. She had probably pegged me as a soldier or knight like herself who had been on leave and just so happened to stumble upon the smoke. Of course the surprise was quickly replaced with as smile as her mount reared up in preparation to fly.

"Very well, Sir Emiya. Good luck in your battles to come." And with those final words she took to the sky, flying east towards Ylisstol with all the speed her pegasus could muster. I turned away from the sight of her and looked back towards the smoke filled horizon. Though I had lost a good deal of time healing Cordelia it had been worth it, the information she carried was worth more lives than everyone who was still alive at the border, and now I had all but guaranteed it would reach Ylisstol's leaders safely. Pumping prana back into my legs I began sprinting towards the fort once again, it wouldn't be much longer now till I was once again in the midst of battle.

It couldn't have been more than ten minutes later that the fort came into view, yet the adrenaline running through my system made it feel closer to an hour. I slowed down as I approached, eyeing the situation as best I could to estimate the status of the battle. The fort was a miniscule thing when compared to the glory of the Longfort, mostly stone it had four walls with a gate on each wall, the gates must have been made of wood originally, but now all I could see of the eastern gate, the one I was approaching, was burnt chunks of wood and the torn remnants of some metal grating. Fortunately despite the gates condition it seems the fort hadn't been taken yet, there was battle occurring even now at the eastern gate and I could only assume the same could be said for the other four. It seemed Gangrel, or whatever tactician he had employed, had decided to take full advantage of their superior numbers by attacking all four entrances to the fort rather than just the one closest to plegian soil, the western gate.

Scanning the enemy lines it was difficult to tell exactly how many men were there, both because of their numbers and because of how chaotic battles actually were. My own estimates placed their number somewhere between seven hundred and fifty to a full thousand. On the other hand Lucina had told me that the forts garrison would have only been five hundred foot soldiers plus the squad of twenty five pegasus knights. If the plegian army had dedicated equal numbers to each side of the fort then Ylisstol was outnumbered by up to eight to one odds. Even with the advantage inherent to defending a fort versus attacking one the battle was hopeless. Still though, I had three objectives here, to limit Ylisstol casualties and secure a retreat route for the garrison, to delay the Plegian army for as long as possible, and to raise Plegian casualties as much as possible.

Stopping at the edge of the clearing that surrounded the fort I began tracing the same giant black bow I had used two nights ago. That done I began tracing my ammunition, a simple arrow, as I sought out my first target, the enemy commander. It didn't take long to find him, one of the only men riding a horse on this side of the battlefield, trotting back and forth across the back of the enemy lines and shouting out commands. Of course despite being an obvious target he was also a well defended one, three cavalrymen rode around him, decked out in full plate armor and carrying massive shields and polearms, I could only question what kind of horses they had to be able to handle so much weight. The commander himself wasn't without his armor, a lighter chest plate and a full helmet, enough to stop an arrow from any normal bow, thus protecting him from any enemy snipers. Fortunately, I wasn't using an ordinary bow.

Releasing my hold on my arrow's shaft I let it fly towards my target, his helmet may as well have been made from wool for all it did to stop my arrow backed by the strength of Archer's massive bow. By the time his head had been pierced I had already chosen and fired on my next target, a regiment captain yelling orders at his unit as they fought. I managed to pick off three other targets before the plegians realized what was happening. The first group to retaliate was, of course, the bodyguards of the now deceased general. They spotted me without too much trouble, I was standing out in the open after all, and began charging at m. The first of the three I shot in the head with an arrow, unfortunately it seemed their armor was far more durable than their commander's as it failed to pierce the helmet. Fortunately the attack was jarring enough to knock the man off of his horse onto the ground where he was trampled to death by one of his allies.

Accounting for the surprising strength of their armor my next arrow went straight through one of the eye slits and the man's corpse went lax on the back of his horse before falling off as the animal swerved off into the woods. Pulling Bumeran out of its sheath on my waist with my right hand even as I held my traced bow in my left I threw the weapon at the third and final rider. He was too shocked by the sudden and brutal deaths of his allies to even notice the sword until it was too close, and my sword's enchanted steel bit through the weaker amor defending his neck before decapitating the man. My blade then drew an arc in the air as it turned back towards me to seek out the sheath I had fastened to my waist, I managed to get off two more shots with my bow, ending the lives of an equal number of plegian officers, before I had to pause and catch my returning weapon, resheathing it before I continuing firing.

Now, with most of their officers dead, confusion spread amoung the rank and file troops of this division of the plegian army and their attack slowed as those men not locked directly in combat allowed their attention to wander, seeking orders from someone. Of course when I continued firing on them their desire for commands was replaced by a desire to not get shot. Some flinched back when I shot the soldier next to them, hiding behind allies or shields, others, though momentarily stunned, charged in the direction the arrows had come from, towards me. While I could have killed the soldiers that charged at me, thus ending the immediate threat to my life, I instead chose to shoot those that flinched back, or hid, therefore encouraging more to charge me out of fear of being my next target.

In this way I began drawing more and more of the soldiers off of the walls of the fort and towards me, relieving whatever portion of the garrison had been holding them off. By the time the first man reached me I had killed somewhere over one hundred men and drawn around half of the remaining attackers towards me in a mad charge. Ducking underneath a swing of the man's sword I traced a duplicate of the weapon he was holding and used it to cut open his guts. Jumping back I used my reinforced legs to put about a dozen meters of distance between myself and the mob of soldiers before simultaneously reinforcing and altering the sword I held and putting it up to my bowstring.

I took aim at not the lead soldier in the charge but one a few rows further back. Releasing the sword-arrow I watched as it exploded upon impact with the man's torso. Obliterating the swordsman's body and killing any soldier unfortunate to be near him. Before the dust could begin settling from the explosion I circled around the mass of plegians until I was to their side and could see both them and the soldiers who had remained at the wall. I traced another mundane steel sword before breaking it as well and firing it towards the back of the soldiers that had decided to charge me. Now they were trapped between two small craters and the dust kicked up by the explosions. Not only that, but the same dust that blocked their view obscured them from their allies sight, and it would also be useful for hiding my next attack.

Standing straight I held one my bow at my left side and my right arm forwards as I brought the blueprints of a dozen different swords to the front of my mind. They were all mundane things, mostly european longswords made from either steel or iron, cheap in prana to produce and effective enough for what I wanted. Using the rising cloud of dust to hide my work I traced each sword into the air above the mob of enemy soldiers, they hung there in the air, waiting for my signal to strike like a flock of well trained hunting birds. "Trace bullet, fire." Bringing my hand down as I spoke the aria my traced swords fell, hitting the earth beneath them with enough force to plant them into the earth up to their hilts. Most of them, though, never reached the ground, instead finding their mark in the bodies of the plegian soldiers beneath them.

Most of the hits weren't instantly fatal, severing limbs or striking the torso in places like the shoulders or areas of their guts that wouldn't kill instantly. There were also far more soldiers than swords, I had only traced a dozen and there were still hundreds of soldiers hidden in the dust. That, however, was a brief respite, as even as the swords I had traced broke apart, fading into light blue particles of prana. The same blades, or rather new copies of them, reappeared back in the dust cloud before falling back to the earth all over again. The only sounds coming from the cloud of dust was the air being cut by steel before the soft thump of a blade finding its target. It was only a minute later that I slowed the rain of swords until I finally stopped launching them all together, the battlefield growing eerily silent except for the sounds of fighting emanating from the gate where the Ylissean garrison continued to fight.

When the dust settled there was only one word to describe what had happened, a massacre. Corpses littered the field, most disfigured, either by the two initial explosions or by the way the falling blades had chopped their bodies into pieces. Of course I wasn't the only one to take notice of my handiwork, the plegian soldiers that had remained at the wall took notice as well, those that were closest to me grew pale faced and I noticed the way their hands shook as they held their weapons in a death grip. The few who were still actively engaging the ylisseans quickly became confused by their comrades reactions before they noticed the state of their rearlines. The garrison meanwhile became bolstered by the sight of their enemies quaking in fear, their counter attack was strong and ended many of the distracted attackers. The rest fought a retreating battle, choosing to flee from what they likely thought to be a demon or some kind of monster rather than continuing to assault the fort.

Instead of attacking the fleeing soldiers I instead examined the garrison. I had expected to see around a hundred tired, but living soldiers. Armor dented, weapons damaged, and some heavily wounded, but with a fair number of their original force still alive. Instead I was faced with a handful of men, thirty two by my quick count. Looking as though they had walked through hell and back staring at me from over a pile of corpses, both ylissean and plegian. It was as I was taking in the state of their equipment that I learned just how bad things were. Almost half of them weren't actually swordsmen or spearmen as the weapons they held suggested, they were archers who had scavenged what weapons they could and joined the front lines after they ran out of arrows.

Walking towards the garrison I noted the way the soldiers eyes moved between me and the mountain of dead I had left in my wake. Most of them seemed unsure of whether to worship the ground I walked on or to flee in terror from the sight of me. One however moved to the front of the group and raised his voice. "You would be our reinforcements sir?" There was a mix of hope and fear in the man's voice, hope that maybe he might see the next day, but fear that I would do the same to him and his allies as I had to the plegians.

"I suppose I am." I continued forwards, dismissing my bow as I approached the gate. "I was on my way to the border when I saw the smoke, thought I'd stop by and lend a hand." The men seemed to visibly relax, both due to my joking tone and at the confirmation that I was an ally, they made room for me as I approached while the man who had spoken up first continued speaking.

"I have to thank you for your help, but I'm afraid this isn't done yet. There's more of them at the other gates, this group was actually the smallest of them." The man removed his helmet as he spoke, his armor was simple, a small chestplate to protect his heart and lungs, gauntlets and grieves to protect his limbs, a full helmet to protect his face, and a chainmail shirt to stop arrows or lighter blows from cutting the rest of his torso. His weapons were also standard issue for a foot soldier, a small round shield, made from wood and banded with iron. His lance was steel tipped with a wooden shaft and bands of iron at different points along the shaft to prevent it from breaking easily. He had brown hair and a freckled face, common features among the citizens of ylisse. He was fairly youthful, likely somewhere between twenty and twenty five, and lacked the beard many older men I had met in this world liked to grow.

"The name's William, and, well, due to some recent vacancies in our chain of command I'm in charge of the east gate." He stumbled over the larger words as he spoke them, likely repeating something clever he had been told earlier to me. "I don't suppose I could get your name mister?"

"Shirou Emiya." I had considered using a false name to avoid the attention intervening in the battle would draw, but I was a little too recognizable with my stature and red and white hair to avoid being recognized. I also didn't have time to disguise myself and even if I went unidentified when Lucina got she would at least be recognized and it wouldn't be hard for people to realize my identity.

"Well then Mister Emiya, I'll take you to meet with our commander while the everyone else prepare for the next attack." He turned his head away from me to address the idle soldiers. "Scavenge for better weapons if you can, don't bother with armor we won't have time! Drag those bodies to cover as much of the gate as you can! Paul, grab some oil from the stockpile, we'll pour it on the dead and light them on fire when the enemy gets too close."

"What about our dead?" One of the soldiers voiced a valid question, if this was all that was left of the eastern gate's defenders then they must've quite a few fallen.

"We, burn them too. They gave their lives to hold this fort and now we're gonna have to ask for a little bit more. Plus I don't want those plegian dastards getting their hands on them!" The soldiers quickly got to work as one ran off into the fort, likely to get the oil William had asked for. "Alright Mister Emiya, we'll head to the western gate now, the commander has been leading from there, it is where we were hit the hardest after all so it's where most of the fighting is." The man took off at a brisk walk expecting me to follow as I did.

The rush of battle still hadn't left my mind and I couldn't help but take in every detail around me as we walked. I saw the small group of medics working in the empty square in the center of the fort lacking any remaining proper bandages they were tearing the shirts of their patients or their own clothing for makeshift bandages.I saw a few men on the fort walls, white bandages peeking out showing their obvious injuries, though despite their inability to fight properly they were throwing whatever they could get their hands on, stones and sticks or chipped and broken weapons, one man even threw a chamber pot at the attackers. I saw a few piles of embers and hot ashes left from some buildings that must've been burnt down by flaming arrows or fire magic. I saw the stone entrance to the fort's keep, the oaken door the only wooden architecture not burnt down in the fort. And I even saw the western gate's defenders, men that soldiered on despite the overwhelming odds against them, their weapons would break in their hands only for them to throw them at their opponents and grab a new weapon from the ground or draw a side arm to continue fighting.

"There's the commander over that way. He's the tall guy with the big axe." William gestured over towards the western gate, there were far more soldiers here than at the eastern side, over one hundred ylisseans and though there were probably far more plegians I couldn't see much past the defensive lines. Standing near the rear was the man my guide was referring to. Tall had been an understatement, I was around one point eight meters tall and I knew that I was on the taller end of the spectrum, this man was somewhere around two meters tall so he towered even me. His frame didn't make him look any smaller, he was a hulking man, not fat so much as big boned and sporting all the kinds of muscles you would expect to see on a man who carried around such a heavy weapon. Speaking of his weapon the 'big axe' was no less enormous than its wielder, it was nothing compared to the axe-sword that Berserker had used but it was still a hefty weapon. It was a battle axe, about a meter long with a steel handle, the head of the axe was actually made of two different metals. The bladed edge was made of steel so that it would cut and retain its edge better while opposite side was flattened to resemble a hammer and was made of cheaper iron instead. The man wore full steel plate armor, stuff heavy enough to stop anything short of the most powerful blows, the only way through it would be the joints where the armor was weak, overwhelming penetrating power, or to use blunt attacks to dent or batter the armor and give the man within bruised flesh and broken bones.

"Oi, Commander Rommel Sir!" The giant of a man turned and looked at William and I as my guide yelled to him, we continued to approach him until we were a few meters away when William stopped and saluted.

"Well Will, what are you doing here? And who's this? We're kind of busy here, so if you're coming for a troop inspection you oughta wait till next week." I could barely keep the shock off of my face at how casual the man was being despite the raging battle. William though, it seemed, was more used to the man's attitude.

"I took command over the eastern gate when Garrick died sir, and this is Shirou Emiya, he showed up at the east gates and drove off the plegians there. I decided to take him to see you before more showed up sir." William stood at attention the whole time he reported to his commander, Rommel apparently.

"Hmm, Emiya huh? Now how did one guy manage to drive off hundreds of plegian soldiers? And any chance you can do it again, I'm a little old to be fighting these kind of battles." The commander looked me up and down as he spoke, assessing me. His eyes stopped at the hilt peeking out from behind my back. "A swordsman too? I'd have thought it'd take some kind of magic to handle so many men by yourself."

"You're not wrong, it's just that I use most of my magic along with my swordsmanship, and I can save a lot of my energy by simply fighting with a sword instead of using my magic." I didn't bother to conceal the fact that I was a magus, there was simply no way to fight the Plegian army unless I used my magecraft and I also needed the trust of Commander Rommel if I was going to help him get his men out of here alive.

"I see, it's not common but I guess those kind of people exist. Now what can I do for ya? I can't really spare much time for pleasantries with my men dying out there." The man's gaze turned hard despite the joke, he made no move to conceal that he wanted to get down to business and I couldn't help but be glad about that. I had been worried the commander here would be some pompous noble or unblooded officer, to see a veteran in charge had me relieved, and I knew he was quite the veteran from the history of his weapon. He had fought in the previous war against Plegia, just like Frederick of the Shepherds had, and that experience would be invaluable here.

"It's not so much what you can do for me, but what I can do for you. I'm something of a mercenary and I'd like to help you and me with the Plegians." There wasn't much I could tell Rommel about the goals of Lucina and I, and without her here I had to decide for myself just how much to tell him. And yet despite the number of secrets I was holding I still had to earn the man's trust enough to get him to trust me with his men's lives. Sometimes these parts were harder than the actual battle.

"Bah, a sellsword eh? You should've gone to the Plegians then, their madman of a King has gotten rich off of the spice trade and looting our lands. I'm sure he would've paid you better than we can afford." William looked shocked that his commander would suggest that I join their enemy, but I knew Rommel was testing me. His grip on his axe had shifted and I knew that should I show any desire to join the Plegians the blade of his weapon would seek my neck. Of course all those thoughts were going on in the back of my head as the rest of my mind was concerned with one thing, the spice trade he had mentioned.

Spices, real spices? Not just rock salt and, pepper, or maybe some ground mustard seed if I was lucky, but real spices. Basil and cumin and paprika and thyme and red pepper? Or, dare I hope, curry powder?

No, I shook thoughts of cooking out of my head and I was quickly back to battle mode. Ideas of spices and dishes I could make with them saved for a latter time. "I'm not concerned about money, I hardly even care if you pat me or not. My commander and I have different goals than personal wealth, and stopping the Plegian army from killing all of you would help us reach those goals." William seemed to be getting more and more confused, his hand had fallen from its salute and now he was looking between me and his commander in bewilderment. Rommel though was every bit as calm as I was.

"And what goal is that exactly?"

"My commander's motive is not mine to share, but my own goal is rather simple, childish even." Rommel's eyes narrowed behind his helm as I spoke, and I took that as a sing to continue speaking. "I want to save people, whoever I can, no matter what method it takes or who they are. As many lives as possible, and after I heard my commander's goal I decided the best possible method for me to save lives was by helping her achieve it." It was strange referring to Lucina as a woman to an outsider, but after Chrom and the Shepherds had found out her real gender she decided there was no reason to conceal it anymore.

"That sounds like the ramblings of a naive idealist." I remained silent as Rommel commented on my goal, he was right after all, at least about the idealist part. I knew far too much about the impossibility of saving everyone to be naive at this point. "Fine then. Do you got a plan or should I stick you on the front lines and see how many lives you save?" I let out a small chuckle at his question, it wasn't all that long ago that his plan would be the best I could do for my goal. Luckily I had learned a lot since then and was now more than capable of making my own plans for battle. Quickly I explained my idea to the man and I couldn't help but notice as he became more and more surprised until he let out a huge laugh when I had finished.

"Oh, boy. You might be the craziest bastard I've ever met, and I've met a lot of crazy bastards." The large man doubled over as he bellowed out laughter.

"Does that mean I have your permission for my plan?" I ignored his reaction as I began going over alternative options in my head. My current plan was destined to fail if I didn't have his permission to go through with it, I needed the full cooperation for his men for it and nothing less would work.

"Permission? Boy, you've got my help! It's the crazy plans that always seem to work after all. No one ever seems to expect them!" He stood straight as he let out a last chuckle before turning to William. "Will, you heard the man, spread the orders to the north and south guards, then return to the east end and prepare." The soldier looked to be at the end of his wits after hearing my plan but in an impressive display of loyalty he obeyed his commander's order with nothing more than a salute. "Emiya, you come with me, we've got work to do and plegians to kill."


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: I have to start by apologizing for the downtime between these last two chapters. I can only say, life was busy, I had finals first, then I had to take care of my grandmother after her knee surgery, and now there's a new fire emblem game. Alright, maybe that last one isn't such a good reason. I'm gonna limit what reviews I respond to here in the future, as I feel not all of them justify a response in the story itself, I'll try and answer any other questions with pms though. First is that Shirou will be the only FSN character in the story. I do have plans to explain how Zelretch's magic got fucked up but you won't be seeing any other nasuverse characters simply** **because** **they don't fit** **into** **my plans well. Second, a guest commented that if Shorou can use the skills in Gae Bolg then he should be able to use its effects for no prana cost since their skill based. Now, not only does it cost Shirou prana to use the more impressive skills stored in weapons due to excessive reinforcement, like Tsubame Gaeshi and Nine Lives Baldeworks, neither of Gae Bolg's effects are skill based. Gae Bolg's effects come from its legend, accomplishing impossible feats that it was said to have performed in life at the cost of invoking its name and prana. Also though Gae Bolg does have anti army effects its target limit is 1000, which makes sense seeing as in medieval Ireland an army of 1000 would be massive, but in Fire Emblem that's simply a small force. That's all for this time, so I thank you all for your continued support and patience and give you Chapter 12 of Awakening to Battle.**

It was around ten minutes after my conversation with Rommel that I found myself standing on the frontlines of the battle at the western gates, where the fighting was the fiercest. The preparations for our plan hadn't taken long, though the execution of my plan would take quite some time to complete. That was fine though, since one of my goals here had been to delay the Plegian army as long as possible anyway. So after a few quick minutes of ironing out details and ensuring orders for the plan would be spread throughout the garrison I had moved to join the fight. With Bumeran in one hand and an ordinary steel blade I had picked off of a plegian corpse in the other I had joined the battle.

For now I was doing everything I could to avoid tracing, I would need my prana later on and even if my plan worked I couldn't guarantee that that would be the end of the fighting. So I used only whatever reinforcement was necessary and chose to use the blade I had forged as well as my looted second sword to fight. Despite how much I was limiting myself in fighting I still had no issues with my opponents, the enemies I was facing were not well trained, professional, soldiers but mostly recent conscripts and former criminals pressed into service. The plegians seemed to be keeping their elites in reserves, whether for later battles or as a final push in this fight I didn't know. I could only hope that they wouldn't be deploying them here since it would make executing my plan much harder and more costly.

While plunging my stolen blade through a man's abdomen as I cleaved off the arm of a man who had been trying to cut my throat, I took stock of the men around me. With the exception of Rommel none of them were veterans or elite forces. Ylisse's only exceptional soldiers were the knight orders most of which were stationed in or near Ylisstol, and the only one that had been here, a division of pegasus knights, had fallen early in the fight as the enemy archers picked them off whenever they tried to fly above the fort's walls.

Instead the men around me were simply the second or third sons of poor farmers, men who couldn't inherit the family land and had to find their own work. So rather than face poverty they joined the military and ended up serving under Rommel here at the border fort. The only thing separating them from the plegian conscripts were the drills and training that Rommel had run them through every day. Their commander had seen real battle, real war, and he was intelligent enough to have seen the next one coming. So even as the nobles and army at large had been caught unprepared for the war Rommel's men were trained enough to survive on a real battlefield, even in this hell hole.

Ducking under a swing of a sword I used Bumeran to hamstring the man before plunging my more mundane blade through the top of his head as he fell to his knees. I felt how the weakened blade chipped on his skull and yanked it back out before reinforcing the blade recklessly. Its already damaged form quickly became too strained and I threw the weapon into the enemy lines where it detonated. Grabbing the blade of the man I had just killed I quickly used it to parry a spear thrust from a panicked soldier who had seen my throw. Bumeran bit through the wooden shaft before cutting the man's lungs through both his leather jerkin and rib cage.

Keeping an eye on my allies I noticed Rommel join the front lines once again. As the commander he had to frequently leave and rejoin the battle, both to ensure he didn't lose his life in the fight, thus leaving the garrison leaderless, and so that he had time to ensure the other groups of defenders were doing fine and redeploy troops and resources when need be. The man's axe was devastating to the enemy lines, he made full use of its size and weight, as well as his own, to pummel his opponents. The bladed edge bit through even the toughest of armoured opponents and to those less protected it often cleaved through their entire body. The flat end was no less dangerous, smashing limbs, torsos, and heads to an unrecognizable pulp of blood and flesh. Even when it didn't crush the enemy it still sent them flying back as if they had been hit by a car, the bruises and broken bones that were inflicted weren't lethal unless the spine or neck snapped, but the wounds were still enough to drive his foes from the battlefield, and a wounded soldier would cost more resources to handle than a dead one, or it would if Gangrel actually cared for his men's lives. Somehow I wasn't sure he did.

Rommel noticed that my attention was on him and gave me a brief hand signal to show that all groups were ready to start the plan. Now we only had to wait for the timing. Turning all my focus towards the enemies in front of me once again I began looking for my chance even as I slaughtered my opponents. My stance was a poor imitation of the fighting style I used with Kanshou and Bakuya, a fake of a fake, but against these untrained and undisciplined soldiers it was more than enough. I stood at the front lines of the battle, killing any enemy that came within the reach of my blades and occasionally those further away when I used Bumeran as a projectile weapon or threw whatever second blade I had scavenged away, often breaking them beforehand to inflict maximum casualties. Of course my actions garnered me quite a bit of attention, allies were bolstered by my presence, growing more bold and fighting all the better. Enemy soldiers began to fear me, to try and stay out of my reach, but their officers instead chose to push all the harder, sending more terrified men my way to die.

Of course it was inevitable that should I keep this up for too long I'd make a mistake, I wasn't reinforcing my body, saving my prana for later instead, and despite all my training and experience my endurance was not infinite. As I was facing down a foe, my stolen blade left in the skull of a recently killed target and Bumeran was occupied slicing through the shaft of a spear that would've pierced my kidney, another soldier leapt from the throng of enemies and drew his sword in an arc to strike me. It wasn't a skilled blow by any means, it was clear the man was more used to cutting down wheat than men, but it was still enough to cut through my shirt and the flesh of my chest. Blood leaked from the wound and stained my clothes as my muscles clenched at the pain. It was a shallow cut since I had leaned back to avoid the worst of it, but it bled all the same. And as my own blood joined the blood of so many others on the ground below the enemy soldiers took notice. No longer did they shrink and hide at the sight of me, they had seen me bleed, they knew I could die and that they could kill me. They grew confident, overconfident in fact.

Despite the wound on my chest this had been no mistake but a part of my plan, just like I had in my duel with Lon'qu I had chose to take a blow to further my own strategy. I had shown weakness for the sake of luring my opponent into a trap. It was strange, adopting Archer's style of fighting to become an army's strategy but I believed that it would work. I even let the man who had dealt the blow live, just to embolden the plegians more. I looked to Rommel out of the corner of my eye and gave him a hidden signal with my left hand, he seemed surprised to see the blood but quickly figured out what I was doing. I had told him I would be faking a wound for this strategy after all, and while I wasn't actually faking it like I had told him he seemed to realize that I had intentionally taken the hit. He turned away from me and looked to one of his officers, the order quickly spread through the men and I saw one man run off from near the rear lines to spread the word.

I looked down to the wound on my chest, noting the amount of blood flowing out of it. I decided it was enough to convince any observer that I was in fact wounded and leaking blood unless they got a good close up look and stopped restricting my prana from flowing to Avalon. I wasn't capable of stopping the sheath's healing powers without removing it from my body but I was able to limit them so that I could allow the wound to bleed some to ensure that no one would suspect I was actually healing. I felt the edges of the wound begin to shrink as the Noble Phantasm worked. Trusting the sheath to do its work I focused on carrying out the first phase of the plan. It was a slow, drawn out process. As the battle drew on our front line began to intentionally waver. A man would stumble here, his life saved only because of an ally's intervention, a man would receive a cut, nonlethal, looked much worse than it felt or it was, but retreated all the same. Men's weapons broke and their shields shattered, and rather than replace them with arms off of the fallen they instead retreated, flinching back from an enemy's attack. It was a difficult balance to maintain, if we didn't put up enough of a resistance then the opposing commander would begin to suspect something, but if we put up too much of a fight they may not fall for the trap.

We were pushed back, step by step, inch by inch, until Rommel gave the order for the men to abandon the walls. The men who had been throwing anything they could get their hands on down onto the tops of the besiegers heads scrambled back, moving off of the walls and into the fort's keep, where any defenders would be forced to make a last stand. As our front line was pushed past the gates and into the open area inside of the fort I saw the other groups of defenders in similar positions, some were holding longer their lines still holding in the entrances, and others were pushed further with enemy troops already spilling into the fort. Rommel detached himself from the front line and began bellowing out orders, gesturing with his axe. The retreat sped up from there, as men drew close to the keep's entrance and huddled together. Men were moved into the keep as quickly as we could manage, standard strategy would dictate we make a last stand there, or surrender to the besiegers at this point.

The wounded were moved first, then the younger and less skilled men. The few men who stood with me were those Rommel and those he trusted most, the most skilled and dedicated of his forces, less than a dozen men. The plan was progressing just as I had hoped, it was almost time to spring our trap when something went wrong. The enemy brought out their own reinforcements. From over the fort walls they flew in a v-formation. Most of them rode giant lizards, wyverns as I had been told by Lucina. And while I had panicked at first at the idea that armies in this world fielded entire squads of dragons Lucina had clarified that despite the similarities wyverns were no dragons. They were not intelligent beasts, nor could they use magic like the dragons of my world. In the end they weren't tactically superior to the pegasus knights of Ylisse, both having their own advantages. Their scales gave them more armor, and they were slightly larger and stronger than a pegasus, but they were also slower and lacked the innate resistance to magic that a pegasus had. They would still prove an issue, but rather than being the impossible task that killing a flock of dragons from my world would be they were instead just particularly tricky opponents.

At the front of their formation though wasn't another wyvern, but a pegasus, and unlike Cordelia's partner Aurora this one was black as night. It took me a moment to figure out why the beast was that color, just as I had been teaching Lucina about the magic that I used she had been teaching me about troop formations, different unit types, battlefield tactics and anything else that may come in handy. It was her words that had me realize that this was a Dark Flier. According to my commander a Dark Flier is a veteran pegasus knight who in addition to their skill with a lance had learned how to wield elemental magic. Lucina's teachings were proven true by the small ball of fire steadily growing larger in the rider's hand, she was a dark skinned woman with bone white hair. I couldn't decide if her smile was in joy of impending victory or simply sadistic. Noting the way her arm holding the flames arched back I decided it wasn't a pressing question.

"Move!" I shouted at my allies beside me, reinforcing my body so I could physically tackle Rommel into the keep. Even with my newly reinforced strength I had difficulty moving the man along with his weapons and armor. We cleared the entry way and I felt my back heat as the fire splashed the area where we had been standing moments ago, incinerating several plegian soldiers. I could only cynically note the woman's apathy towards her allies deaths as I ran through methods to deal with the enemies new air superiority.

"Well that ain't good." Rommel stood quickly looking at the wall of flames that bought us a moment's respite. "Thanks for the save boy. You still gonna be able to do your work?" He clearly had the same concerns as I did.

"Yeah, it'll be a little bit harder, and I may not get as many, but I'll be able to make it work."

"Alright, I've gotta deal with my men, if you need any help I'm sure a few of the boys will volunteer." Rommel clasped his arm on my shoulder as he spoke. It was strange being the short one here, I'm not sure I liked it.

"That won't be necessary. I can handle them on my own and I don't think I could get anyone else out with me." I had saved my prana for this reason after all, from here on I'd be fighting alone, Rommel and his men would be retreating through a secret exit in the keep. It was a small tunnel, hidden in a storage room, usually reserved for sneaking nobles out should they be trapped by a siege. It wasn't normally an option for an army to retreat with it or to attack with it. The outer exit was sealed and hidden and even if an enemy managed to find it they would have to march through it single file meaning they'd get slaughter when they entered the fort, and the amount of time needed for the garrison to march out of it would be hours. Luckily, or unluckily, we no longer had a full garrison to retreat and the wounded men and medics had been moving through the tunnel ever since we began the plan. What was left of the army would only need an hour to retreat and I could easily buy them that time.

"Alright kid, just don't die. I wanna see you in Ylisstol reporting for duty. Got it Shirou?" It was the first time the man had called me by my given name rather than boy, or Emiya, or something.

"I won't be dying here, I can't afford to. I doubt I'll be joining the army proper but you can bet I'll be there when you invade Plegia."

"Gah, ha, ha, ha! We'll then, give them hell before you go kid. Can't let this be easy for them." He walked away, down into the keep as he bellowed orders at the men around him. I let out a small grin as he walked away before turning to the entrance. The flames that had bought us that moment were dying out and soon the plegian foot soldiers would start charging into the keep once again.

Reinforcing my body I sheathed Bumeran and dropped the extra sword I had been carrying. Holding both hands out to each side I began tracing, the familiar weight of Kanshou and Bakuya soon appeared in each hand as I walked towards my enemy. As soon as I finished tracing my weapons I put on a sudden burst of speed and dashed through the flames. Kanshou and Bakuya tore through flesh and armor, while Bumeran's enchanted steel had been more than capable of slicing through leather armor and wooden shields Kanshou and Bakuya were on a whole other level. They were Noble Phantasms and were more than capable of cutting through steel plate armor and weapons like they were cloth.

My counter attack came as a shock to the men who had seen me wounded and faltering, putting on an act of weakness as I, along with the ylissean forces, retreated. In reality though my wound had long since healed, Avalon having done its job, and whatever fatigue I had accumulated was relieved by my reinforcement. As the men flinched back from the slaughter I was inflicting they gave me the space I needed to act. Turning in a quick circle I tracked the location of each gate and the entrance to the keep, tracing a blade above my head for each. The blades I traced weren't the mundane steel I had used in a similar way earlier but mystic codes, a mystic code I had forged actually. I had created five copies of Kaunta, taking advantage of the blades unique properties to create copies with as much energy already stored in them as I could. Instead of creating copies of the blade as I had last seen it earlier today I created copies of it as the sword had been during Lucina's duel with Chrom, right before she had activated its power for the second time, giving me copies of the blade with a great deal of energy already stored inside of them.

Then I broke them, it was difficult breaking a weapon without holding it, but I was able to do it as a part of the process of tracing. It weakened the quality of my work but it would still be enough for the job. Launching the swords at the stonework above each gate and the keep I watched as they struck the stone work. The resulting explosions sent shockwaves across the areas, most of the troops near my targets went temporarily deaf, or those that didn't get crushed by the collapsing gates did. The stonework, already weakened by whatever battering rams the plegians had used to break through the iron grating, gave and the walls in the area collapsed, sealing off all exits to the fort short of jumping off the walls.

While the plegians were still reeling from the destruction of their only route in and out of the fort I began to kill them. Every stroke of my swords ended another life, and despite the vast numbers arrayed against me I dodged and weaved between their ranks, avoiding or parrying their attacks. Any resistance they put up was minor as their ranks panicked at the reversal of fortunes. Ducking under an axe blade I noticed the smell of ash on my nose, knowing what was about to occur I began to sprint away from my current location. I saw the flash as a ball of flame hit the ground where I had been and burst outwards. Though I escaped the worst of it the back of my shirt still caught flame and I was forced to tear it off as I rolled away from an enemy. Dashing towards one of the fort walls I used my reinforced to jump high into the air. Planting Kanshou in the stone I used it as leverage to launch myself further up the wall, releasing the blade as I went. I did the same with Bakuya a moment later and managed to reach the top of the wall.

Turning back to face the fort's interior I noted the soldiers were still in a panic, made no better by the flames eating away at what little grass there was and several dead bodies. Turning my gaze to the sky I watched as the wyverns began circling me. I didn't bother turning to watch them, tracking them instead by the sound of their heavy wing flaps. I kept my eyes on the Dark Flier instead, as she floated in place in the air above the center of the fort, just as she kept her eyes on me, or rather on my bare chest, I would have blushed if I wasn't in the middle of a battle.

"You were never injured were you?" I shouldn't have been able to hear the question even with my reinforced hearing. Between the panicked soldiers, the screams of those whose flesh was still aflame and the flaps of her own mounts wings her words should've been inaudible but somehow I heard them regardless. Probably the result of some mystery of hers, a waste of prana for sure, but any magic she wasted on amplifying her own voice was less magic I had to deal with when I tried to kill her. And I would have to try and kill her, her and the wyvern knights. Unlike the main body of Plegia's army they weren't ground bound, and could fly ahead of the main army to terrorise any villages in the area or attack Rommel's forces. Even with their small numbers they could deal great damage to the retreating garrison, Rommel's men didn't have any fliers and the groups archers had long since ran out of arrows leaving them with no way to counter an aerial assault.

I ignored her question, choosing to let her reach her own conclusions. Tracing new copies of Kanshou and Bakuya I hopped to my left, Bakuya sunk deep into the side of wyvern that had been trying to eat me. Whatever I had cut had apparently been important enough that the lizard wasn't able to keep flying, instead crashing inside the fort adding further chaos to the ongoing panic.

"Trace on, bullet fire." Swords began appearing over my head as I launched them at the circling wyverns. Most missed my targets as they flew out of the way but several struck home. Two pierced the side of the beasts, one severed a wing grounding the reptile, and one shot that was as much luck as skill impaled a beast in the head. The plegian air cavalry did not take my attacks lying down though, two other wyverns made passes at me, and while I managed to mark them with Kanshou and Bakuya they were small cuts and of no real importance unless this battle drew out too long. Something I couldn't afford or else I wouldn't have the chance to put distance between me and the Plegian army before they continued marching.

The pegasus rider also chose to retaliate, more balls of fire began raining down on the wall around me. I was forced to begin running, following the wall around the perimeter of the fort to avoid her attacks. More traced swords answered her attack, several targeting her mount as others kept most of the wyverns too busy dodging to attack me. Most was an important term here as while the Dark Flier was conjuring a wind shield to deflect my swords one of the wyvern knights landed on the wall in front of me. It was as the draconic beast inhaled that I remembered one detail Lucina had given me on wyverns. Just like the dragons they so resembled, they could apparently breathe fire. Trusting the reinforcement I had applied to protect me I charged straight at the dragon as it opened its mouth and exhaled. What came from its snout was a gout of flame, like the flamethrowers modern weaponry had created in my own world. I used Kanshou and Bakuya to disperse the worst of the flame, feeling the handles grow hot in my hands as they began to scorch me. Jumping as soon as I grew close enough I rose above the fire to land on the lizard's head. I planted Kanshou and Bakuya deep in the creature's skull before leaping past it and tracing a new pair. One blade parried the rider's axe while the other split his throat as I barely slowed my mad dash.

My burns were minor, mainly across my arms and a few on my chest. My hands had been burnt as well but it wasn't bad enough to hinder my ability to wield my swords and I could already feel Avalon working to heal them. Unfortunately while my attention had been focused on the wyvern that had landed and I'd been unable to launch more blades the others had been able to recover and prepare another attack. The remaining wyverns had taken a formation, lined up and flying perpendicular to the wall they made a pass at me. As they flew by every one of the beasts let out a gout of flame, bathing the area in fire. Without releasing either of the married swords I traced a new weapon directly in front of me. A behemoth of an axe-sword appeared in front of me, almost as tall as I am and wider than me it was the weapon of Berserker. Using the slab of stone as a shield against the flames I prepared to wait them out and move when the flames began to die down. Except they didn't.

Using Kanshou white edge as a mirror to let me see past the weapon I was using as a shield I learned what was happening. The Dark Flier was using wind magic to not only fan the wyvern's flames and ensure they didn't go out but also redirect them towards my makeshift shield. Clicking my teeth I began to run through my options. I noted how the wyverns were preparing a similar run to hit me from the other side of the wall and quickly ended their plans with several flying swords. Keeping note of the wyverns in the back of my mind I devoted most of my attention to tracking the black pegasus and its rider. Using what images I could get with Kanshou as well as my ability to track her magic I ran calculations through my mind.

When I was satisfied it would work I threw Kanshou and Bakuya around the axe-sword. The two blades curved as they flew, and I paused to make sure I timed it right before tracing another copy and throwing them as well. I then turned to face the wyverns as they formed a new formation to try another pass from outside the forts walls. I quickly traced and launched half a dozen swords at them, intentionally missing all but one, acting as if it was rushed and sloppy job. So when the wyverns easily dodged most of my volley, the weapons flying off into the treetops below, without breaking formation the rider I had targeted with the final blade tried to parry the weapon instead of dodging it. He died first when the blade exploded.

The broken weapon only killed two of the wyverns directly, the one who's rider it had struck and the one to its left and behind in the formation as the sword's fragments pierced its skull. The rest were only wounded or startled by the blade detonated but the explosion was loud and blinding enough to disorient the rest, causing them to crash, either into each other or the trees. I noticed a shift in the fire around me as it suddenly began to die out. Dismissing Berserker's weapon I saw my handiwork on the Dark Flier. Though I had missed my target, the rider herself, I had still been able to hit her mount. The wounds I had dealt made Cordelia's mount's look like a papercut. Two lines across each of its flanks, digging deep enough that I was sure I must have cut into its bones, those were from the first pair I had thrown. Of the second I could only find wounds from one, meaning the other must've missed or been dodged. Bakuya was still lodged in the beast's chest, having pierced through the armor covering it.

Since it was still flying, or rather flapping its wings hard enough to slow its descent to be a poor but controlled landing rather than a crash, I must've missed any vital organs. I took one last glance at the plegian forces now trapped in the fort they had sought to capture. Officers were beginning to reinstate order, fires had been put out, and one squadron had already began to work on removing the rubble from one of the gates. I wasn't sure how many of the wyverns were down for the count, or how many more they had in reserve, but if I stuck around any longer I'd have to contest with the entire army in a straight fight. Rather than test my luck I turned and leapt off the wall, sliding down the edge of it to slow my descent before I began sprinting into the forest with reinforced legs. This would have to be enough for today.

Dashing through the woods on reinforced legs I began to plan out my next move. With so much of the Plegian army trapped inside of the fort I had managed to buy plenty of time for the Ylisse troops to retreat and the villages to evacuate. With all four gates collapsed they'd have to either take the time to clear out all the rubble and reopen one or more of the gates, a process that could take hours, or they could place ladders on the walls and have the men escape one by one, and with as many soldiers as there were in the fort that might take even longer than moving the rubble. Even once that was done they'd have to spend even more time reforming ranks, counting casualties, treating the wounded, and, if they wanted to hold the fort, assigning a new garrison. Of course it was also possible for Gangrel to split his army in two, leaving behind the trapped forces and advancing with only those men who had never entered the fort. While that would significantly weaken his army it would still leave him with enough forces to face down Ylisstol's standing army with the advantage.

Even then just reorganizing the troops and splitting the supplies between the two armies would buy us enough time for the villagers to reach Ylisstol and to give the former garrison a significant head start. I wasn't intimately familiar with the marching speed of this world's troops and since armies in my world relied heavily on mobilized infantry and tank divisions the speeds at which they moved would be far too different for me to make any accurate deductions. The plegians would probably be much faster though since the retreating army was so exhausted from fighting while the plegian army still had fresh troops.

The best I could do was to try and catch up with Rommel and stall the plegians with traps and ambushes. While I could probably stall them in a straight fight for quite some time that was only if I had the prana to unleash my more powerful swords and remain reinforced the whole time. As is I didn't have much prana left at all, reinforcing myself to sprint to the battle and then breaking through the eastern siege had taken quite a bit of my prana, and then all the tracing and breaking of weapons I had done to trap the plegians had taken even more. By my estimations I'd have less than a quarter of my full prana left by the time I reached Rommel with how much reinforcing I was doing now. Enough to reinforce myself for an extended fight but that was so long as I limited myself to tracing only a few mundane swords and didn't break any of them.

Still, that would be enough. With Bumeran I had a decent enough sword for even my standards and I could always borrow extra weapons from either Rommel or the plegians. So long as I bought them whatever time they might need the ylissean forces would be able replace any weapons at Ylisstol. Though this was all assuming that I'd need to slow down the plegians further. Should Gangrel decide to wait for his entire army to free themselves from the fort then Rommel would probably have already reached the capital's gates.

At that point we'd have to deal with a different problem, repulsing the plegian invasion. If they chose to attack the capital we'd have another siege to deal with, but otherwise we'd have to find and attack the army with whatever forces we could gather. The Shepherds would surely be there, probably some Feroxi forces due to the recent alliance. Rommel and his men would probably join though many of them would have to be left behind so their injuries could heal. Some of the landed nobles might lend their standing forces to the cause, it depended on how loyal they were and how hard Emmeryn pushed for their cooperation though and only the richest of them would even have standing forces.

There wouldn't be time to raise any levies or conscript troops from the masses. We'd have to use whatever standing forces the Ylisse-Ferox alliance had. Moving away from my thoughts I moved out of the brush and onto the road heading for Ylisstol. I had considered making the journey through the forest and avoiding the road so it would be harder for plegian scouts or trackers to find me but I valued reaching Rommel quickly over avoiding the plegians detecting me.

As I ran I alternated between scouring the ground in front of me for the tracks Rommel and his men left, watching the road for a sign of the ylissean soldiers themselves, and watching the treeline for ambushes. While I doubted there would be any it was possible that Plegia had arranged for bandits to join them as reinforcements in Ylisse, or inserted them ahead of time for the purpose. I doubted they would spring a trap on me if the former garrison had avoided it but the possibility was there.

It didn't take long for me to find the point where Rommel's forces had moved onto the road from whatever tunnel they had escaped out of. Numerous footprints crisscrossed the area, the older ones in complete disarray but the latest prints were in loose formation. Ranks had been formed here. They were far from perfect, exhaustion compounded with healthier men having to support the more wounded had caused the formation to become sloppy. I stopped running and bent over so I could attempt to date the prints.

The ground was dry and any dust kicked up by the tracks had completely settled, so I knew it had been at least ten minutes. At the same time no new animal tracks had appeared over top of them so it had been a short enough time that no wildlife had thought it safe enough to approach. Around thirty minutes since they had passed by my guess, give or take ten minutes. I should be able to catch up to them quickly if I continued running. Instead though I turned around and began setting traps for the army.

In the past I would have used explosives for such a thing. Claymores and C4 explosives weren't easy to get a hold of even in the more war torn parts of the world, but with some magecraft and the right connections I had always been able to get enough to work with and the stuff was very effective. Now however I didn't have access to any such equipment, the only things I had taken with me to this world were the clothes on my back. That meant the only things I had to work with were my magecraft and the world around me.

Venturing off to the side of the road I began cutting down saplings with Bumeran and collecting them. Taking the flexible wood I began weaving them into a grid pattern. Moving back to the road I traced a shovel and began digging a pit. Even with a steel shovel and my own reinforcement it took half an hour before the pit was deep enough, about twice as deep as I was tall. Tossissing the shovel out above me I climbed out before placing the grid over the hole. I then went to collect branches off of the surrounding trees, making sure to grab those with as many leaves as possible to cover the hole. Finally I covered the rest with dirt and moved the remaining excavated earth into the forest with my traced shovel.

The whole process had only taken half an hour, and while the trap wouldn't be fatal it would probably break a few bones and force the army to march with more caution. I moved about a hundred meters down the road before stopping again. This time my work was much simpler. I started by finding several large trees and felling them down onto the road. Next I moved them to pile them up until I had a wall tall enough to reach my shoulders. Satisfied with my work I moved a hundred and fifty meters down the road this time, it wouldn't do to become predictable.

Luck seemed to be on my side this time as I found an even larger tree, it was about half my height in width and I was not a small man. I used Bumeran to begin cutting down the tree, stopping when the tree was stable enough to stand on its own but weak enough to fall with a push. Standing in the brush to the side of the tree I crouched down to reduce my profile before hiding and waiting. It was just under an hour later that I saw the first ranks of the plegian army approaching. Their timing proved that Gangrel had chosen to leave behind his trapped forces. I stood watching as the front row reached and then passed me. They marched in rows of five, each column going ten deep before there was a break before the next group. They were divided into groups of fifty with every soldier of each group carrying identical equipment. The first group had small wooden round shields and iron tipped spears as well as iron helmets and leather armor, likely in the lead for their expendability as their weapons lacked any real history so they couldn't have been trained much. The second group had small bucklers made of iron and steel swords with the same type of armor as the first group probably to reinforce the front line in case of an ambush. Their was a lot of variation in the way they each fought with their swords, it wasn't until I found a man who had an older blade that I realised they were all mercenaries and most had simply been given new arms by their plegian employers. The third set of soldiers were archers, carrying a bow and a quiver on their backs as well as a small dagger on their hips. They were probably placed there in so that the front ranks would have immediate ranged support should battle break out. The fourth group was identical to the first, probably a rear guard for the archers.

It was as the fourth group was passing me that I pushed on the tree next to me. The sound of its creaking was concealed by the marching of troops so the plegians didn't notice the trunk until it was too late. The first two rows of the fourth group were decimated by the trap. Arms, legs, heads, and torsos were crushed. Of the ten men it collapsed on four escaped, two lept back behind the tree and two lept ahead. As the tree fell I sprinted out from the woods, Bumeran left its sheath and entered a spearman's back. I twisted the blade as I pulled it out to deal maximum damage before turning and beheading the second spearman.

Now the tree was an obstacle, delaying the fourth and later groups from reaching me and the first three groups of the plegian army. Dashing forward I began cutting into the archers before they could react. In their surprise they were barely able to defend themselves and even when they recovered the only weapon they had that was viable at this range were their daggers and they barely slowed me down. Within a few minutes all fifty archers were on the ground crying out in pain. Some were missing limbs or bleeding out of gaping cuts in their chests or stomachs, others were already dead, throats split open, heads pierced or missing, or the cuts on their chests had reached something vital enough to cause a quick death.

As I slew the last archer I didn't slow, moving onwards towards the mercenaries. The men were more battle hardened than the archers, having made their living on the battlefield. They were prepared enough to fight as soon as I reached them. When I fell upon the first row of five I was forced to block or dodge their attacks, two blows connected with each other, preventing either from reaching me. One I parried with Bumeran and knocked the blade into the fourth. The fifth, a stab, I sidestepped watching as the man overextended before I grabbed his wrist and used my reinforced strength to break the bone in my grip. As he dropped his sword with a scream of pain I grabbed the weapon in my left as I released him, the blade was quickly turned on its former master, piercing his throat.

With a second sword in my grip I was able to fight back all the better. Bumeran stabbed through a weak point in a poorly made iron shield, removing several of the wielder's fingers as my pilfered blade deflected a couple of attacks. Using their numbers against them I maneuvered them so that the men could only get at me one at a time as I began to cut them down. The tactic only worked for a few moments before the men began to learn and came at me in a semicircle, giving themselves enough space to attack me three or four at a time without interfering with one another and allowing them to surround me. When they did however I recklessly reinforced the sword in my left hand, breaking the mundane weapon, before throwing it, decimating their cohesion, inflicting over a dozen casualties, and stunning the surviving men. I was getting ready to charge the survivors when they started to flee into the woods. I guess as mercenaries they had learned how to survive battle, even if that meant fleeing every once in awhile.

Ignoring the mercenaries as they fled into the woods I began charging the lead group of spearmen. They had formed proper battle ranks, rows of ten, as wide as could fit on the road, and five deep. Shields were up, covering their torsos and spears were pointed ahead. It was vaguely reminiscent of the phalanx, without doubt the most famous military formation in my world created by the spartans of ancient greece. Still though, it was a pale imitation at best, and the soldiers making up the formation lacked everything the spartans had that made their soldiers the best of the ancient world. No discipline, little training, and poor equipment. Dashing into their ranks I sought to take advantage of those faults.

Feinting high I ducked low, going underneath the first rows shields and spears, slicing into the leg of one man. I stood up quickly in between their first and second rank and began tearing into the men around me. Their spears were less than useless this close in, becoming an unwieldy handicap as they struck their allies with the shaft more often than the tips reached me. Their shields did no better, they were too small to cover all their weak points and even when a shield was in my way the wood wasn't strong enough to do more than slow Bumeran.

Cutting my way through their ranks I relied on the reactions of the men in front of me, glimpses I could see of what was behind me reflected in Bumeran's blade, and my own battle tested instincts to avoid attacks from behind. I made sure to move forwards as I fought, keeping my living opponents close enough that they couldn't use their lances properly.

It was mere moments before I found myself breaking through their last line. I leapt forward to make distance before turning to see my handiwork. Of the one hundred and fifty men I had fought my way through less than two dozen were still standing on the road. Of the archers none were standing, all bleeding on the ground with various wounds. I wasn't sure how many were dead or dying and how many could yet be saved but I could tell at a glance that none of them would be fit for battle for months. The swordsmen had fared better, less than thirty of their number lay on the ground and only a handful still stood, blades ready watching me like a dangerous animal. Most of the mercenaries had fled, I doubt they'd be returning to the Plegian army and even if they did from what I knew of Gangrel they'd be walking to their executions. The spearmen had fared best, almost a dozen of them still stood, shaken and pale faced as they might be. Most of their fallen hadn't even faced lethal wounds, they simply didn't have the discipline to fight through the pain they were experiencing.

What truly had my attention was the ranks of men charging in my direction. They were reaching the surviving mercenaries now and the two groups were meshing together in their pursuit of me. They were the fourth group, the one I had dropped a tree on. They held the same type of arms as the first group but with more surety and skill. Evidently they were more experienced than the men I had just finished routing and while I could definitely do the same to them it would be more costly in terms of prana and time. And as I noticed another group of plegian soldiers clamber over the log I had dropped on the road I knew I was running low on both.

So I ran, dashing on reinforced legs down the road before swerving into the woods. Ducking under tree limbs and darting around shrubbery I began to make my way to Ylisstol, still shirtless.


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: I'M BAAAAACK! Sorry for the looooong ass time between updates, part of it was being busy part of it was writers block and part of it was rewriting this chapter three times just cuz I didn't like how it was turning out. I'm not gonna make any promises about when I'm gonna update next cuz we all know those cant' be trusted at this point, but I will say I'm enjoying** **writing** **right now and plan to do more soon. I might try working on multiple stories soon since one problem I had was not wanting to** **write** **this story rather than not wanting to write in general, so there may or may not be more stories popping up on my page in the next few months. Thank you all for your** **patience** **and your support, I wish you a** **slightly** **belated Merry** **Christmas** **as well as give you Chapter Thirteen of Awakening to Battle.**

Slowing my run as I reached the clearing around Ylisstol I dismissed the reinforcement on my legs only to apply the same mystery to my eyes and ears. The last time I had seen the capital, less than twenty four hours ago, it had been alive with a sort of calm, orderly chaos, farmers making their way through the gates along with their harvest, merchants setting up stalls, and housewives already out bartering with those merchants. Now the city was no less loud, but it lacked the feeling of life it had possessed before, farmers bringing their goods were replaced with villagers seeking refuge, merchants were replaced with soldiers hastily setting up blockades of sharpened logs, and instead of housewives messengers were bustling about with orders and information. All this was visible just through the front gates from where I stood in the clearing around it.

Drawing my eyes away from the city I looked to the clearing itself, though empty this morning now it was filled with dozens of bodies, villagers and merchants seeking asylum from the plegian raiding parties. Though separate from the throng of people seeking entrance to city one individual stood out, a splash of blue against the green and brown of the surrounding forest. Turning away from the gate and towards my commander I let the final vestiges of my self enhancement fade and shut off my circuits.

"Oi, commander, I'm back." I took a smug sense of satisfaction from the way Lucina's grin at my presence quickly broke. "I see evacuating the village went well, but I thought you were gonna head for the border after." I let the unspoken question of why she was here instead of there hang in the air. It's not like I had needed her help, in fact by the time she could've come to help I'd probably already be retreating.

"I was going to, but when the villagers were just about to leave suddenly we had a whole army on our doorstep." For a moment I panicked, but then I calmed down, no wounds on her or any of the villagers, and no new battle history in either Kaunta or Falchion. I looked away from her her sword to see Lucina giving me a knowing smile. "I was on edge too, until I saw the ylissean blue underneath all that blood and grime. Commander Rommel had a few choice words for you, some of which I agreed with, but we both agreed that you'd be retreating by the I could reach you." She looked over me, pausing and blushing lightly as she beheld my bare chest, probably checking the extent of my wyvern induced burns.

"You really have seen plenty of battle haven't you?" Or not, she must've been checking over my scars.

"I suppose so, though the worst of them are all from the around the same time, it was only good luck and even better allies that let me survive my first few battles." Though I suppose if I had good luck I would've never been in the Grail War in the first place.

Lucina scoffed at my words, probably having similar thoughts to my own. "Here, put some clothes on." She lifted a bag I hadn't realized she had been carrying, my own bag I realized after a brief moment. "Rommel returned your bag to me, and I took a minute to collect the things you threw out."

"Thank you." I took the bag from my commander before digging around in it, pulling out a spare shirt that I had bought last time we were in Ylisstol. It wouldn't be as comfortable or durable as my previous shirt, one that I had brought from my own world, but it was quite a few steps above going shirtless. "So, what now?" I spoke up again, even as I wormed my arms through the sleeves of my shirt. "Plegia didn't invade this early in your timeline did they?" Despite knowing the answer from Falchion's history it wasn't a rhetorical question. I simply wanted to hear what my commander thought.

"No, they didn't, spent a few weeks throwing out vague and not so vague threats, talking about the assassination without ever claiming credit even when everyone knew it was Gangrel's work, and even demanding the Fire Emblem. It's likely that Gangrel decided to invade since the subtle option didn't work."

"Yes, because an army of assassins and a mage throwing around lightning bolts is subtle." The only response to my sarcastic comment was a raised eyebrow. "So what do we do? I don't think ignoring the whole thing is much of an option."

"No, we need to ensure the Gangrel doesn't take Ylisstol, while fighting the war after could still be possible we can't afford that kind of disadvantage, or for the Fire Emblem and the Exalt to fall into his hands." I nodded at her words, finding myself agreeing, from a tactical point of view losing the capital would splinter the nation's forces, some would surrender, some would become stranded without a line of communications to other divisions, and some opportunistic noble may even go turn coat.

"So we fight then." It wasn't a question, it probably never had been when it came to the two of us. Lucina had been raised in a nation at war, first with Valm, then Plegia, then the world itself, and despite being its ruler she had always been more of a commander than an administrator. And though I lived a mostly peaceful life for about a decade and a half since then my life had been roaming from one battlefield to the next. Though that only made sense, I was a sword after all.

"We'll need to get inside the city if we want to defend it then." As Lucina spoke she made to turn towards the gates, however my next words had her stopping short.

"You really think we're gonna just be let in looking like this?" My commander paused and looked over herself first and than me. While she looked to be some knight or noble's daughter with her pristine armor and well kept appearance I was another story. Even with my shirt on again I was a far cry from looking proper. It had been a cheap shirt that I'd bought, a simple brown tunic that was only enough to cover my modesty, and my hair and body was still covered with leaves and dirt from my sprint through the forest. "You may be fine, but I look like a bandit or some kind of rogue. The best we can expect is for them to confiscate our weapons, and while it'd be unfortunate to lose Kaunta and Bumeran they're not what I'm really worried about."

Both of our eyes unconsciously went to Falchion, the sword made by a divine dragon to kill divine dragons. There were many weapons in Unlimited Blade Works, countless blades many of which had anti-draconic, or anti-divine properties. But none of them had would be as effective against a foe like Grima as an Awakened Falchion, and though not Awakened we had the original, or rather an original, Falchion here. Putting aside sentimentality it was not an advantage we could afford to lose.

"Alright then, here's the plan." I looked away from the Noble Phantasm's hilt to meet my commander's eyes awaiting my new orders, and while it was a good plan I wasn't happy with it.

Shuffling my way through the dark I held my breath as best I could and I walked through the tunnel, the water beside me flowing slowly in the opposite direction. Since I was the only one whose appearance was an issue Lucina decided to enter through the main gates and meet with Rommel on her own. With her own appearance even if her weapons were confiscated they'd likely be returned after she spoke with Rommel. However for me to simply sit in the woods twiddling my thumbs in that time would be a waste so she had arranged a different route into the city for me. Since she had been forced to defend Ylisstol from the Risen countless times she knew its strengths and weaknesses better than anyone, so finding a way in for me had been simple, unfortunately simple didn't mean pleasant as the path she had found for me was the sewers. Yet despite the awful smell, the dark corridors, low ceiling and the generally oppressive atmosphere the most uncomfortable part of this was the extra weight on my hip.

Despite our confidence that her blades would be returned to her after meeting with Rommel we couldn't afford the risk when it came to Falchion. If Kaunta was lost or broken I'd simply have to make my commander a new sword, if Falchion was lost the sword was irreplaceable. Even if she could get it back there was a risk of someone recognizing the blade, Chrom lived here in Ylisstol after all and many had seen the blade in his hands. So it was decided that I'd carry the weapon with me through the sewers and return it to Lucina when we rendezvoused in the city. It wasn't like I was unused to holding Noble Phantasms, even without Tracing I still possessed Avalon, and even Unlimited Blade Works was technically the Noble Phantasm of Heroic Spirit EMIYA. But this was different, I was carrying a Noble Phantasm that could be on par with Excalibur, during a time when its legends were still being written.

I held no illusions, I was aware that the war I was fighting with Lucina would become one of legend, whether we win or lose, that by its conclusion my commander would have earned herself a place in the Throne of Heroes. I wasn't sure if I'd share similar fate, not because of any inferiority of my abilities but because I wasn't from this world. No matter what I did here, or who I saved I was a foreign entity, and that was part of what concerned me. It was evident that this world was still within the age of gods, or at least something similar to it. Dragons like Grima terrorised humanity, magecraft was well known and a common sight on battlefields, and phantasmal beasts like wyverns and pegasi were used as mounts. It only made sense that my magecraft worked just fine then, in a world where Noble Phantasms ike Kanshou and Bakuya never existed they should lack their power and effects, or at least be weakened by the loss of their legend. Instead they and every other Noble Phantasm within the Blade Works worked just fine as did my Tracing, likely due to the world itself being more accepting of thaumaturgy.

However it wasn't just my Tracing that should be suffering from a rejection by the world, I myself was a foreign entity, and the very planet should be rejecting me. It was one of the things I had picked up from Rin's studies, the same way Gaia rejected thaumaturgy any planet would reject foreign bodies like the immune system of a human body rejects diseases. There were mysteries however to prevent such a reaction from the planet or to stop the planet from killing you anyway, none that I could understand but ones that Rin and Luvia could apply, ones that Zelretch would activate whenever he launched me to another world, but despite being True Magic they don't last, and fade over time. While Zelretch could make them last months or maybe even years if he wanted he normally made them last for hours, maybe a day or two at most, when he was 'testing' Rin and Luvia like this.

Yet it's been a week since I've arrived in this world, the planet should have rejected me and I'd have been wiped from existence days ago. And while it's possible for Zelretch to have found me and reapplied the magic if I had been found I wouldn't be here anymore. Not because Zelretch would want to take me back, he'd probably find my circumstances amusing more than anything, but because Rin and Luvia would do it themselves if they had too, it wasn't beyond their abilities if they cooperated. Though either one of them might be able to do it alone if it was to one up the other.

Regardless I should be fading from existence, wiped from reality, crushed by the will of the planet I stand on. Yet nothing happened. Why, I haven't a clue, and even if I did I doubt I could do anything about it, so for now I'd have to count my fortunes and focus on what's in front of me, which in this case was my way out of this hell hole of a sewage system. A long shaft above the stream of unmentionables leading upwards. Leaning over the flow of waste I stuck my arm into the shaft before Tracing a weapon into my hand. A short dagger made of steel, reinforcing the weapon I then plunged it into the wall, creating a handhold for me. Dragging myself forward I then Traced another copy of the dagger into my left hand before plunging it as well into the wall. Pulling on the handhold I unsheathed the dagger in my right hand from the wall and used the hole I had created as a foot hold and creating a new hole with the dagger further up. Scaling walls wasn't something my Tracing was all that suited for, however by using smaller weapons as pickaxes I could create footholds like this while also using the weapon as a handhold.

It was in this method that I made it about two thirds of the way up the shaft without issue. The shaft was fairly short, somewhere around twenty meters deep, but due to how tight it was progress had been slow even if climbing wasn't hard. Thrusting the dagger in my right hand into the wall I paused as I heard a quiet series of tapping. I looked upwards, where I could hear the sound, and furrowed my brow in confusion, a guard? No, there would be on reason for a guard to come here, and I doubted any would want to because of the stench. Maybe Lucina had gotten in easier than expected and was coming to get me? No, we had agreed on a meeting place and she would only arouse suspicion by meeting me as I infiltrated the city.

I paused in my thoughts as a shadow loomed over the entrance to the shaft and made the already dark interior even dimmer. I pressed myself against the wall to ensure I wouldn't be seen. It was only when I heard a sloshing noise from above that I realised what was happening. Releasing the dagger in my right hand and leaving it buried in the wall I spun around and quickly called a new projection into my now empty hand. A large tower shield formed in my grip, one that had been wielded by a knight from twelfth century europe during the crusades. The shield was almost as tall as me, and perfect for providing cover from arrows during a siege, but in this case I was worried about a different type of projectile.

Using the shield to cover my body I paused for a moment and waited for the inevitable impact. I didn't have to wait long, a few seconds later there I felt a small weight and a splash on the sheet of metal I held. While being careful to angle the shield to prevent anything from dripping on me I threw the weapon down below, forcefully dismissing it before it hit the water and watching the waste continue to fall on its own, illuminated by blue flecks of prana.

The shield was a strategy I had created to deal with acidic attacks, while I was more than capable of fighting through the physical pain acid was something Avalon had trouble with, unlike poison the sheath couldn't remove it from my body and it would continue to eat away at my skin even as I was healed, at best distracting the Noble Phantasm from other wounds and draining my reserves and at worst outpacing my healing and causing lasting damage.

Still the tactic worked well here, turning my thoughts away from the unpleasant fate I had narrowly avoided I turned back to the dagger I had left in the wall and resumed my climb. It wasn't long before I reached the top, I peeked my head out to make sure the coast was clear before vaulting over the small stone wall that created the entrance to the shaft. I turned around to take in the piece of architecture I had just exited. Taller than one meter but not nearly two was a circular stone wall made up of brick. The only notable difference between this and a water well was the lack of a bucket, or pump, or any method to draw water. Which made sense since no one would want to draw water from the city's sewer.

Lucina had remembered the sewage system as well as where it emptied because she had been forced to seal it in her future. Risen had followed the scent of human waste to the sewer entrance, a few kilometers away from Ylisstol and tried to scale the shaft. The sewer wasn't an issue when dealing with human opponents, since no army would be able to make it up the shaft, but the mindless Risen had, or rather would have, no qualms about wading through the river of human waste and climbing the bodies of their brethren.

I turned on my heel and began walking away from the disposal center, I had responsibilities to see to, orders from my commander. I would have found some mirth at the term commander, but the weight of the second sword on my hip sobered the thought.

I walked down the street before stopping at my destination, finding it a third time had been easier than the first two so I hadn't spent too long searching. I paused to note the open sign on the door and satisfied that I wouldn't be intruding walked in. Scanning the interior I noted that, with the exception of a few barrels of spears and arrows, there were far less weapons on display than the last time I was here. I looked over to the counter to see that I wasn't the only visitor the smithy had.

"I told you before, the army is mobilizing we need weapons and armor. You'll either have to forge us the blades we need or we'll be taking what you do have." On one side of the counter was what could only be a military official of some kind. From the way he stood to his haircut and clothes everything spoke of the well kept soldier. Cropped brown hair and a straight posture that made the average height of the man seem tall to even me, uniform, a simple blue tunic with a few cloth badges to denote rank, was crisp and clean.

"I, I know that. But Dad never taught me to make swords so all I've got are spears and arrows. I can give you those, and there should be enough iron in the forge to make a few dozen more, but, but I can't give you the daggers!" Much less sure and stern than the soldier but still far better than the last time I had seen him was David on the other side of the counter.

"And I don't care what you can or can't do, if you cooperate we can pay you well for your wares, but if you resist we'll simply commandeer whatever weapons you do have and you won't see one coin for your work, or your father's." It was inevitable that David would have to sell to the Ylissean army, the smithy his father had been doing business in the city for decades so he had enough of a reputation that the armed forces would use him as one of their suppliers during a time like this. But since James had died there was no way for David to give them the same amount of weapons they'd expect from his father.

As David began stammering at the officer's words I decided to step in. "Now, while I can see why'd you want weapons for the siege I don't see why swords are necessary, or how you think daggers would help you." I took a small bit of pleasure seeing the officer spin around, almost jumping in surprise, even going so far as to place a hand on the sword at his hip. My eyes were drawn to the blade, a one handed knight's sword, two edges no decoration on the blade hilt or pommel except for a small inscription about serving the throne, the people, and the nation. It was forged by a bladesmith that lived and worked at the Exalt's castle, one that worked exclusively with and for the Ylissean government.

"Ah, sorry I surprised you, though shouldn't a soldier be more attentive, especially at times like this?" My pleasure spiked as I watched a flash of anger move across the man's face before he crushed the emotion behind a mask of indifference. His hand left the hilt of his sword as he steeled himself and began to speak.

"It is fine, besides you are correct, I was merely frustrated by some business and allowed my guard to slip, I won't allow it to happen again. Though I'd ask what you meant about the weapons I was asking for." I nodded at his words, more of a pleasantry than a true response.

"I'm pretty sure there wasn't much 'asking' going on there." I smirked as I saw his lips twitch. "The army is preparing for a siege right now correct?" I continued without waiting for a response. "I mean, the Exalt wouldn't allow any offensive actions this quick and even if she did the siege will be the most pressing issue. When defending in a siege arrows are the most important thing, melee weapons will only be necessary for sallying or if the gates are breached. And if you sally it'll mainly be the cavalry and they should all have weapons already since any conscripts will be foot soldiers. And if the gates are breached spears will be better than swords for the less trained recruits and for holding a defensive line. I mean, asking for swords over spears is a simple mistake, but demanding a few daggers is simple lunacy."

I felt great pleasure as I watched the man squeeze his fist at his side, and made no effort to conceal it. "While I do see your point on the swords I disagree with you, the plegian army has an over reliance on axe wielders and the best way to take advantage of that is with swordsmen. And while you'd be correct about the daggers normally in this case you're wrong. After all the daggers in this case are enchanted." While I wasn't sure what he meant about axes and swords I knew well enough about the daggers magic, though not how he knew. I raised an eyebrow as he spoke, before turning a questioning gaze to David. I was unsure whether the soldier knew about the enchantments from rumors or because David had foolishly told him. Based on the way the boy sunk in on himself I decided it was the latter. I gave him a warm smile, different from the cold bitter one I had adopted from Archer to tell him it was fine before looking to the man.

"I'm well aware that the daggers are magic, I helped make them after all." I watched and fully enjoyed the surprise come across the officer's face as he either tried and failed, or didn't even bother trying to hide his emotions this time. My smile became decidedly less warm. "It still won't help, the enchantment on those things isn't some simple effect like a Levin Sword's electricity, if someone wanted to be able to properly use them it'd take far too many months of practice to be useful in time for the siege."

The man seemed to pause at that, thinking. For a moment I thought he'd accuse me of bluffing, and I'd be forced to show him the effects first hand, then he spoke and a new problem came up. "If that's the case then you should be capable of making more magic weapons, some that will be useful for the siege."

"Hmm, so what if I am?" I stared down the man, challenging him to make his move. His own gaze didn't falter but I noted the way David shied away, almost hiding behind the counter.

"Then by the authority of Ylissean army I order you to forge weapons for the upcoming war. You will be compensated for your work but until the war is over you'll be required to continue giving us arms."

"The authority of the Ylissean army means jack to me, I'm not a citizen of Ylisse so I"ve no obligation to aid you." I had hoped that would be enough but the man didn't want to back down.

"Even if you're not a citizen you're still within our capitals walls, if you refuse to comply we'll be forced to imprison you and make sure you cooperate." I was surprised at how far he was willing to go but prevented the feeling from showing on my face.

"You could try." I noted his hand drift to his blade as he spoke, evidently he believed he could take me on his own, and if it came to it I'd have to prove him wrong. "But I wonder how the Feroxi would feel about you imprisoning foreigners. The alliance is still very new and I doubt they feel great about being dragged to war literal days after forming their alliance. Which is more valuable, a few magic swords or an alliance with a continental power?" I was sure that that would be enough, though I had to raise my perceived value of magic weapons when the officer paused for an uncomfortably long period of time.

"What would it cost to get you to forge the blades?" I gave a smirk at my victory, but didn't push it by egging on the man.

"Come here tomorrow, I'll be staying in the city for a while and probably be spending most of my time here. I'll need to talk to my own superiors before I make any decisions." I'd have to talk to Lucina about the idea of selling mystic codes to the Ylissean army, it would serve our own goals to empower the Ylissean army but I wasn't sure if it was the best way to serve them, and we'd also need to discuss what kinds of weapons to provide them with as well as how much to charge for them, gold was something we could always find a use for but we also didn't want to drain Ylisse's own coffers for it.

The man paused for a moment, considering my terms. "Very well, I'll talk to my own superiors about funding and requests." He looked over to David, who had come out from behind the counter now that it seemed we wouldn't be coming to blows. "I'll be expecting those spears and arrows from you, we'll pay twenty five percent above market price though I expect them packaged for transport before I arrive tomorrow as well as a date for the next shipment.

David blinked a few times before the words properly registered. "Y-yes, of course sir! I'll do my best!" The man merely scoffed though I could see a small smile on his face caused by the boy's enthusiasm before he walked towards the door.

"Shirou, Shirou Emiya. It's my name." I added at his look of confusion. The man merely nodded and turned away without a response or even giving his own name. It was immediately following the door shutting that David spoke up.

"Sh-shirou. Thanks for the help, but uh, what are you doing? I thought you were going to be gone working for a while?" I gave the boy a small smile.

"Don't worry about it, Marth and I were going to be gone working but, well something came up and for the time being we'll be staying in Ylisstol." I noted the look of doubt on his face, and after a moment's indecision I decided to elaborate. "Yes, it does have to do with the siege but don't worry, Marth and I fully intend to support Ylisse in the war." I noted the look of relief on his face, and felt a little warm at it.

"Now, I was wondering about borrowing your forge, there's a couple of projects I was hoping to work on and I figure I can teach you a few things while I work." The look of elation on his face at the prospect of learning more about smithing was almost impressive.

"Ah, but, what about the store?" I was confused before I realised the source of his worry.

"It's not an issue, you've already made a deal with the army and you don't really have much else to sell now. At this point it's more important to work on the army's order than try and sell a new suit of armor or a blade to some mercenary or a worried merchant." David nodded quickly at my words latching onto the excuse to go to the forge and start working.

"Ah, I ought to tell Mom where I'll be." He glanced at me, conflicted with his responsibility to see his mother and not wanting to force me to wait.

"Go ahead," I gave him the out he needed, "I'll go on ahead to the forge, like I said I have a few ideas I'd like to try out but I need to see what you have first. If you don't have what I need I'll have to take a trip to the market later." And wouldn't that be awful. It wasn't that I had any issues with the market, but attempting to find materials for weapon crafting during a siege? I'd have better luck fighting Gilgamesh with a quarter of my prana reserves.

David gave me a quick nod before turning and bolting into the back of the store, seconds later a series of thumps told me he was scaling the stairs. I turned away from the door he had left through and approached another that I knew from past visits led to the forge. Now, time to get to work.

In the end my worries had been for naught, as David had gone through the process of restocking all the material he could get his hands on yesterday. James had introduced his son to the merchant he used as his supplier, and when David had approached them and told them of the man's fate they had been very generous with both their prices and quantities for their goods. So now David sat upon enough iron, bronze, wood and leather to make weapons and armor for an entire squadron of soldiers and still operate the smithy normally.

The boy had come down from seeing his mother just as I was pulling objects off of the shelf, to start experimenting with. The goal with my experiments was to make a mystic code or several that'd give us the edge in the upcoming battle. Lucina and I had discussed methods to both allow the two of us to face a large group of enemies, potentially hundreds, and win, and to allow us to shift the balance of a battle enough to turn a hopeless fight into a resounding victory.

"Er, Mr. Emiya? What are you planning to make today?"

"I told you call me Shirou." The boy flushed at that and nodded again, though I wasn't sure if he'd actually remember it this time either. "The plan is to make some mystic codes that will be useful for the upcoming battle." Upon seeing the look of confusion on the boy's face I explained. "Mystic Code is a general term for any item or object that has a permanent enchantment." I figured if I was going to teach him how to forge mystic codes I might as well do it right.

"Magic items? You mean for the soldier from before?" It took me a moment to remember what he meant, I was so focused on the blueprints of magical weapons within my own world.

"No, I'm going to talk with Marth tonight about whether or not to even make weapons for him, as well as what to make. If we do make any we'll probably start on them tomorrow. I hope you don't mind if she comes here, I don't know how long her work will take and we needed a place to meet. I could've gotten an inn room but we didn't want to waste time so I thought she could just come here and we could work until she got here."

"Eh? Uh, yeah sure, I don't mind if Miss Mar-wait! Marth was a girl!" I looked to the boy, startled a bit by his surprise before I remembered that he hadn't seen my commander without her mask.

"Yeah, she had her reasons for hiding her gender, still does but the cat got out of the bag a while back. They aren't my reasons to share but you shouldn't think less of her for it. She's a good person, and she's doing her best to help a lot of people." I felt a smirk grow on my face, it was strange to be defending someone else on their crusade to save lives. I wonder if Rin ever felt like this?

"Er, uh, yeah. I don't get it but, if you trust her she must be a good person." I found myself reminiscing in the boys naive blind trust in me, it reminded me of myself before the Grail War. I wonder what he'd think if he realized that I had, even unknowing, let his father die that night by prioritizing the Exalt.

"Alright, let's get started." I walked over, not to the pile of metal ingots, or the rack of smithing tools, or to the furnace and pile of coal. But to a workbench where a few dozen arrows, arrowheads, arrow shafts, and duck feathers sat, in varying states of assembly.

"Huh? Uh, what are you doing? Aren't we gonna forge another sword? Or maybe an axe or a lance?" David trailed behind me, confusion evident in his voice.

"Not yet, like I said earlier we're going to make a few mystic codes, and we're gonna start with arrows. Arrows are cheaper than a whole sword, or even a dagger, so we can use them to experiment with a few enchantments on a lower level before moving up to bigger weapons, and I can still use the arrows we do make." There was no way I'd be able to produce enough enchanted swords to break in the upcoming siege, and though I didn't normally break arrows since swords were more efficient mystical arrows would be far more effective. And if I wanted to conceal at least some of my tracing I couldn't start pulling a dozen copies of whatever sword David and I forged out of thin air. But if I carried a quiver of arrows into battle who knows how many I pull out of there?

"I didn't know you were an archer. Are you going to need to make a bow too?" I glanced back at David as I began picking up and inspecting a few of the arrows on the table.

"Honestly I'm a better with a bow than a sword." I paused for a moment, considering the idea of making a bow before dismissing it. Archer's bow had far too much power behind it to be replicated by anything without extensive enchantment or some mystical materials. "I have my own bow, and I doubt I could improve on it."

I backed away from the workbench, half a dozen arrows in my grip. "Alright, we'll start with these. We'll put some enchantments on a few of them and then see how good their effects are before doing a few more. Once I'm satisfied with them we'll go ahead and forge a sword to enchant."

It was as I was rummaging about on one of the shelves looking for a tool to carve runes into the arrow shafts that David spoke up. "Are, are those really good enough? We could make some new arrows for you to enchant." It took but a glance at the arrows in my hand for me to understand why David was so hesitant to use them. They had been made from scratch by the boy alone, after James had died.

I gave a small sigh before turning around, one of the arrows in my left hand moving to my right. "You sanded this part of the shaft a little too much, now the wood here is weaker." I said pointing to section of the arrow's shaft about two thirds from the tip before turning the weapon to show the boy the tip better. "And with the tip, it'd be better if you either made the whole thing thinner, so it'd have more piercing power, or widened the base more so that it'd be harder to pull out. A middle ground like this works with a spear tip since it makes it easier to slash and stab without a risk of getting the tip stuck in an opponent, but with an arrow you want to choose one or the other."

David gave me a blank look, blinking a few times before realizing what I had said. "Ri-right! Careful with the sanding, and a middle ground is no good, either thin for piercing or wide to get it stuck! Er, does this mean we'll be making new arrows?" I gave the boy a wry smile, happy that he seemed to take the advice well.

"No, your arrows are pretty good already, just as good as most arrows you'd find in any other shop. Other than what I already said the only ways to make them much better would be gimmicks. Well, that and enchantments."

"Gimmicks?" The confusion was evident in the boy's voice.

"Things like a barbed shaft, to make pulling it out really bad. Or a serrated tip so wounds won't heal as well. Maybe even making the shaft purposefully weak towards the tip, so the shaft will break off easier and leave the tip in the wound. Poison would work well too, but that's the kind of thing a customer would normally buy and apply themselves." I turned to the boy I had taken as an apprentice and noticed he was getting pale at the rather gruesome talks.

"Remember, you're making weapons to kill people. If you don't like it you can give up on smithing, or make farm equipment, or pots and pans. No one will judge you if you don't want to be responsible for taking lives like that, even indirectly."

"No, I, Dad did this too, and he taught me what he could. If I gave up on this I feel like I'd be throwing his legacy away. Besides, weapons can be used to save people too, from bandits, or wolves, or bears. They can be used to win wars and bring peace. That's what I want my weapons to be used for, that's what I want Dad's weapons to be used for." The boy didn't stutter for once, he seemed strangely resolute now, when I compare him to the child that had been quivering in front of the ylissean officer just minutes ago, the difference was shocking.

"Alright, let's get to work then."

It was several hours later that I sat at the workbench in the smithy, a sheet of paper sitting in front of me instead of an arrow. David and I had finished enchanting the thirtieth arrow just a few minutes ago and I had decided that was enough, both enough practice before we moved onto swords, and enough arrows for the upcoming battle. So now, while David got a quiver for the arrows we had made ready, I was writing down everything I could think of in regards to the enchantments. This way while I was gone David would have something to study and a way to replicate the enchantments with a lower risk of error. Granted he still couldn't activate the enchantments, that would require adding prana, or mana as the mages here used, to the runes. But he could still carve the runes into the arrows themselves.

I stood up from the desk, pushing the chair back and flexing my wrist to work out the kinks that had developed from hours of first carving runes and then writing. I turned to see that David had finished with the quiver and was cleaning up the wood shavings I had created while carving. "C'mon, I don't know about you but I haven't eaten since this morning." I spoke as I pushed my way out of the smithy doors and towards the storefront, David following quickly after stowing the quiver of mystic arrows he had been holding in a corner of the room even as I grabbed my bag from next to the doorway. "You had a lot of vegetables last time I was here right, onions, carrots, and potatoes right? Still got some of those?" Noting the nod David gave me I kept speaking even as I pushed open the door to the kitchen, my attention focused on the boy and my plans for dinner. "There should be quite a bit of venison left over in my pack, it's cooked already but I can put it over a real low flame with the veggies to cook those. If I add some water, animal fat, and spices the vegetables will cook really well." I smiled warmly as I noted the drool escaping from the corner of David's mouth. It seemed he hadn't forgotten the last time I cooked.

"Now that sounds very good. I hope you were planning to make enough for all of us." I turned to the voice, surprised by both the voice and the presence of its owner. Sitting around the small table in the kitchen were three individuals with a small plate of baked goods were three individuals I had recognized, only two of which I had expected to see today. It was no surprise that David's mother was here, though she had left for some errands after I arrived it was natural for her to have returned while David and I were working. I was surprised to see Lucina, only because I would've thought she would have come and got me from the forge as soon as she arrived. The third though was someone that shouldn't have been here, not only because I didn't expect to see him, but because he should be far too busy to come out here and eat cookies.

"Commander Rommel, I didn't expect to see you here, don't you have plenty of work to do before the upcoming battle?" I addressed the high ranking officer, ignoring my commander's mostly rhetorical question even as I passed her her blade. I noted the way that Rommel's eyes tracked the sword, but with the eye catching hilt covered in cloth it simply looked like an ordinary longsword.

"Ah, well I thought that after your display at the border fort you were far too valuable a military asset to leave alone. Even if your commander 'Marth' here says you'll be fighting on the walls I couldn't leave it to chance." I rose an eyebrow at his words, not the way he had said my commander's false name, 'Marth' was such an obvious fake name that no one would seriously believe it to be her identity, it would be like if I ran around in my own world calling myself King Arthur, or Herakles, people would only ever use the name out of respect or because they lacked any other name. No, what caught my attention was just how bullshit of an excuse that was. Oh it sounded all nice and proper, but Rommel had seen me charge into a sea of plegian soldiers already, in a far more desperate fight. He should know that the only way I wouldn't be fighting this time was if my wounds from the previous fight were just that bad. Which meant something else was going on.

I watched Rommel bring a small cookie to his mouth, and waited until he was just about halfway through swallowing it to speak. "So you just want to use me as an excuse to slack off on your work." I spoke in a perfect deadpan, keeping my voice flat to hide my amusement. Though my concealment fell away as soon as I felt my face split into a smirk as the general had a horrible coughing fit, choking on the baked good. I felt a little bad using, such a well made treat as a tool in tormenting the man, but I felt it had been a noble sacrifice.

I turned away from the man and addressed the two women at the table. "I wouldn't know about the vegetables but we should have enough deer meat left to feed five, thanks to you for recovering what was left over." I nodded to Lucina as I spoke, the venison had been wrapped a type of cheap paper so it hadn't been damaged or dirtied when I abandoned it, and Lucina had recovered it quickly enough that no animals had gotten to it.

"I bought some vegetables today at the market, stocked up before they raised prices for the siege or started rationing, you should have plenty of ingredients to work with." I looked away from my commander to the other woman at the table, David's mother. I had heard about her before, bits from James before he died and bits from David since then. She was average height for a woman around, one and two thirds meters tall, with short curly brown hair. Young for a mother by my world's standards but here, with a lower life expectancy and battle more common, she was probably the norm. She had a strong, bright smile, with freckles on her cheeks but the smile didn't seem to reach her eyes, she was probably still recovering from her husband's fate.

"Thank you ma'am, I'll do my best to give you and your son a good meal in exchange for your hospitality and allowing me to continue using your forge." I gave a small bow, as I spoke, though not customary here I was japanese after all and my manners sometimes still got the better of me.

"It's no trouble, or rather, thank you, for teaching David how to forge weapons I was worried that he may never be able to learn, or that we'd have to trade the whole store for an apprenticeship after what happened." The smile which had been so strong moments before faltered for a moment before the woman rallied her strength. "Nevermind that, you don't need to be so polite with me, calling me ma'am makes me feel old. Use my name, Chelsea."

"Okay then Chelsea, I'll whip us all up some food, then we can talk."

Making dinner had been rather easy, after all the deer meat was already cooked and seasoned, in fact we could have simply eaten that cold or warmed it over a fire, but instead I had decided to use it to fix up something better. After cooking some of the vegetables that Chelsea had bought earlier, carrots, potatoes, and onions, in a pot for a few minutes I had thrown the remainder of the venison on top of it and added some water and cow fat to make the meat sweat some so the vegetables could soak up some juices. Add in a warm loaf of bread Chelsea had picked up from the baker as a side and we had some good warm food.

"Alright then, I assume that since Rommel's here alone, and not with a squad of guards to arrest me for infiltration, that your discussion went well." I spoke as I set the last plate down on the table. It was a bit of a tight fit at the dinner table since it was only built for four people and we had five seated. David had offered to stand or wait to eat, but we had made it work by bringing in the chair from the smithy and squeezing together. I think he was worried about Rommel, since he was nobility after all, but the man didn't seem to care, he'd probably been forced to dine in far worse situations while at war. I had always tried to make a point of getting a good meal for those I was with, but with all the Dead Apostle hunts and active war zones sometimes a bit of bread and dried meat in artillery battered hole in the ground was something to be grateful for. And Lucina was from a future where just getting a meal was enough to be grateful for.

"Yes, the general was very cooperative. He has agreed to allow us to fight with his forces in the upcoming battle." I stared at Lucina in marvel, not about what she had said but what she was doing. Somehow she was devouring the meal in front of her without pausing in her speaking or appearing the least bit impolite. Honestly I would've been more baffled if I hadn't seen something so similar to it before. Saber was an absolutely voracious eater, keeping her fed might have been my hardest battle in the fifth grail war, and yet she always the picture of elegance when eating. "We'll be fighting on the walls, and while I know you're fine that means I need a bow."

"Wait, you know how to use a bow?" I blinked at looked at the woman as she continued eating, not even slowing as I voiced my question.

"Yes, though it is not my preferred weapon as even when I'm not using a sword I'd rather wield a lance, I have learned how to shoot one. I've used a bow both in hunting and in battle, however I've always had to borrow another's weapon when I used a bow, so this may be a good opportunity to obtain one for myself."

While I was surprised that the woman knew how to use a bow I suppose it was only natural that she didn't have her own. Quality weapons would be scarce in her future and I doubt they could afford to give everyone a side arm, and Lucina's own weapon was nigh indestructible so there was no reason to have her carry around an extra.

"Alright, I can make a bow then. There should be enough wood in the smithy to make one without any problems, and finding something for the string shouldn't be too hard." I rubbed my chin as I thought it over, all the tools I'd need to make a bow were already in the forge, really the largest problem with making a bow would be time. There was already a lot to get done before the siege, I may have to pull an all nighter just to get it all done in time. It wouldn't be the first time I had pulled one right before a battle and while It'd suck I'd still be able to fight just fine.

"Ha! So you're a carpenter too then boy? Is there anything you can't do?" I looked to Rommel in confusion, pulling my thoughts away from making weapons to see that everyone at the table had some level of surprise, or in David's case awe, on their face.

"Ah, no, I'm not actually a carpenter. Really I'm not even a proper smith." Now instead of surprise confusion was the dominant emotion at the table. "Rather than a smith it's better to say that I'm a weapon crafter. So long as it can be considered a weapon I am more than capable of making it, however I've never learned to make anything else, not pots and pans, or farming equipment, or armor." It made sense after all, I only knew how to make swords and bows because they were recorded in the Blade Works. Anything that I didn't have a copy of in there I'd have to learn to make from scratch. "Anyways, I'll make your bow myself Marth, so that only leaves one thing, a captain of the ylissean army was here earlier, harassing David about meeting shipment times and trying to get Memento off of him." Rommel seemed confused by the name but Lucina and Chelsea had a look of understanding on their faces. "When I told him that I'd help make the daggers he demanded magic swords for the army's use." It seemed that though Rommel was confused about the named daggers he got enough of the picture to realize what was going on.

"Ah, it's no surprise that the officers are scrambling around to get their hands on weapons, they'll need them to arm the new recruits for battle. I'd imagine though that any magic weapons you give them will go to the officers themselves. Damn, how I'd like to get my hands on some of those, I'd love a good magic warhammer." I shuddered at the thought of Rommel with such a weapon. He did enough damage on the battlefield with a mundane armament.

"What'd you tell them?" I looked over to Lucina to see she hadn't been distracted by my Rommel's word like me.

"I told them I'd talk it over with my 'superiors'." I made sure to say that word with as much sarcasm as possible, just to make sure everyone realized I was talking about the girl across from me.

"So you decided to just throw the responsibility of the issue over to me?" I just gave her a warm happy smile, eyes closed and full of teeth to show how much I cared. I heard her scoff in response before she kept going. "Well, we can probably afford to give them some enchanted weapons, but as for the enchantments themselves, I'll leave those to you, just make sure to keep your own reserves topped off and don't go going them anything insane. The more basic the better, we don't need an unit of men throwing around lightning and fire and killing off as many Ylisseans as Plegians." She paused and gave a sigh. "The real problem is gonna be the numbers. Too few and this guy is gonna be putting pressure on you for more, and too many and he'll start trading them away to other officers for favors and promotions, and while that may seem fine those kind of actions can hinder the army as a hole."

"Ugh, politics. I served in the army to try and get away from them but the damn stuff follows me everywhere." Rommel paused in shoveling down my food to complain when he suddenly paused in his grumbling as if struck. "Hey, Shirou, you said that that guy was a captain, you sure about that?"

"Robert, Third Captain of the Second Ylissean Army." I didn't know why he wanted that information but he seemed to be serious so I'd give it to him.

"Captain in the Second, eh? I ain't gonna ask how you know that but if it's true it works in our favor."

"It's true." I had obtained the information from the man's sword after all, and I'd never met a weapon willing or able to lie to me.

"Great, then here's my plan." As I, and the others at the table listened I realized that despite how much he hated politics Rommel was pretty good at them.


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Surprise surprise, I'm not dead! Yeah, turns out I haven't gotten better with uploading but I am still working on it. I want to talk about Lucina's skill with a bow here cuz it's actually an interesting story.**

 **While she does have the ability to class change into Archer in the game that sort of thing is never really plot relevant and rarely touched on outside of FE Awakening itself. Lucina's marksmanship is another story though. It shows up two other times, both noncanonical. The first is in FE Warriors, for the Switch. One of the special attacks she uses in the game has her conjuring a bow of light and firing it a few times blasting any enemies in a cone in front of her. (Yeah it doesn't make much sense but warrior games never do.) The second is in Code Name STEAM for the 3DS if anyone remembers that game, she's a unit you can access through Amiibo and while she wields Flachion from melee distance her ranged weapon is actually a bow. The funny part is I only discovered she could class change to archer while writing this AN, I thought this bow thing was some noncanon shit I was extrapolating.**

 **One more thing for this AN, I have two other stories I plan to start soon. I find increasingly that having multiple stories to work on gets me more interested in writing than simply burning myself out pushing one out. Also that having other stories to move to when I'm having issues with one means I can update other things and that I have more time to think over plot related decisions for stories rather than having to hurry up my planning for each arc so I can post it. So I have two stories that I'm thinking about posting on this site, one you can expect to the first chapter of today if you go looking for it. It's a Fate SAO crossover, and no it's not a rewrite of Servants of Aincrad or a replacement for it. Though for the three people who like that story you'll probably like this. The second is a Fate story, my first non-crossover actually. It's an OC story, not self insert I don't have confidence I could do that well or even decently.**

 **Alright, that's all this time. I'm gonna keep working on AtB and I hope to have the next chapter out MUCH faster than this one, especially since I'm leaving you all on a bit of a cliffhanger here. So now I give you, Chapter 14 of Awakening to Battle.**

I drew my hands away from the blade I had been working on, rapidly blinking my eyes. I wasn't sure when it had started but I hadn't shut my eyes in while, too focused I suppose.

In between rubbing my eyes I glanced at the weapon that sat on the table in front of me, It wasn't truly done yet, I still needed to activate the enchantments, but that was the easy part. All the difficult work, forging the blade and writing the runes mainly, was already done.

The sword itself was a standard length for a hand and a half blade, ninety two centimeters from point to hilt, however the handle only had room for one hand, and lacked any sort of hand guard or pommel. The blade itself was flat and thin, almost a hand's width across but no thicker than my finger at its deepest. That made the blade fragile but also cheap to produce in terms of metal while also giving me plenty of room for enchantments.

And I had used every bit of that room, both flats of the blade covered in small runes, with just enough space between the various enchantments to make sure they didn't interfere with one another.

I grabbed the blade by the handle holding it up so that I could turn it around and look at it from multiple angles. I didn't need to do this to 'see' the blade since its blueprints were recorded in my Reality Marble, but it felt more natural to be holding the sword as I appraised it.

Honestly, despite making it myself I knew the blade was useless to just about anyone. It wasn't balanced properly, the grip didn't have enough room for a proper hold on the blade, it was far too thin to have any real durability, any swordsman would look at it and call it useless on a battlefield, and not even the enchantments would save it there. However it wasn't meant to be used by a swordsman, but an archer.

I shook my head and placed the blade on the edge of the desk before standing up and turning around. "David, how are the spears going?" I looked to the boy as I addressed him, he sat on the floor of the smithy, with a small pile of spears on one side and two piles of spear tips and shafts each on his other. We had forged the tips while we waited for the sword to cool enough to be worked on and David had been assembling them while I had written the enchantments.

"Good, I'm almost done with them, I might need to sand down some of the shafts more but I'm pretty sure they're good." I looked at the pile of assembled weapons David had finished, mentally pulling up their blueprints even as I looked at them.

"You'll only need to sand a few of them, overall they're pretty good on that end. If we have time though we should forge some caps for their butts. It'll make them better balanced and make striking with the end more effective. How many spears do you need to give to Robert?" Despite Rommel's plan we still needed to make good on the already agreed delivery.

"Sixteen, I've got twelve already in the store and we've got eight more here."

"And the arrows?"

"Eighty, there's seventy in the store and twenty back here though, not counting the magic ones you made."

"Good, then we can focus on making Marth's bow next." I had an enchantment for it already planned out too. It'd probably take a few attempts to make it work right but wood was cheaper than steel so I didn't really have to worry about it too much.

"So you finished the sword?" David stood up and looked at the blade that I'd left on the table, confusion evident on his eyes.

"I still don't get how you're supposed to use that thing." The boy quickly realized that what he said could be offensive since I had made the sword afterall. "I-I mean, it's just so, different, from anything I've learned about making swords and-" I gave him a small smile as he fumbled his way around his words.

"It's not actually meant to be used as a sword, the only thing that makes it viable as it is are the enchantments on it, and even with that I'm probably the only person who could use it."

"O-okay. So if the sword is done then we still need to make misses Marth's bow, and enchant the extra spears right?"

"Oh, we're not done making swords. I want to make at least two more like that one, and if we really get the time I'd like at least five copies of it." Even as I spoke I picked up various limbs of wood and pieces of string for the bow, a thicker limb would mean more space for enchantments but I can't risk going overboard. Hmm, I wonder if it'd be possible to put runes on the string?

"Wa-wa-wait? You wanna make five swords just like that?"

"Hm, well yeah, only if we really get the time for it though. Marth's bow comes first, and then we need to make at least. Oh twenty to thirty enchanted spears? Something around there, but I'd like at least three swords and five if we can really push it." I blinked and looked around for a clock before remembering those weren't common in this era. "Any idea what time it is?"

"Er, the sun went down, uh, maybe four or five hours ago?" David seemed pretty flat footed by the random question but I ignored that for now. It was early summer right now, so four or five hours made it... midnight at the earliest, probably closer to one in the morning.

"It's getting late, you go turn in I'm gonna get started on this bow before I'm done for the night."

I didn't look at the bow as I spoke, focused on the materials in front of me. If I used a thicker string would I be able to write on the string with paint?

"I can stay up late, I wanna keep helping and I'm not gonna miss the chance to learn more." I could hear the determination in his voice, which only solidified my decision to send him to bed.

"I'm gonna be working on the bow now, you don't know any woodworking so you can't really help and there's also nothing for you to learn about blacksmithing." The boy seemed a little surprised by the logic of my denial, probably expecting me to just order him to bed or something instead of reasoning with him. But that wasn't enough to change his mind.

"Th-then I'll just work on the spears, I can do it on my own and that way you'll have more to enchant later!" I smirked at his determination, it was a little charming, and would have been impressive if he had actually been thinking this through.

"So you just wanna make more work for me now?" My words were heavy with sarcasm, enough that even David could understand it, though that didn't mean the question didn't give him pause regardless.

"You're exhausted. If you don't get some sleep you're more likely to make a mistake and waste both of our work than actually be productive." I turned to look at him rubbing his head with my off hand as I spoke. "Get some rest there'll be more work to do in the morning." He seemed to have an internal conflict over my words.

Opening and closing his mouth as if he had something to say before giving a sigh and a slow nod. I gave him a nod and a smile in return as he walked out of the smithy and back to the store slash home.

I looked back to the pieces of wood I had been perusing and the various lengths of animal guts to be used as string that Lucina had bought earlier today.

Making a bow wouldn't be too hard, it was inherently simpler and less exhaustive than forging a blade, though the process would be much less instinctive to me than making a blade, and that was without accounting for the enchantments. I knew exactly what enchantment I wanted to use, and I had a fairly good idea about how to create it, the only problem was that I would be making a new enchantment from scratch rather than copying an existing one.

All the enchantments I had made before were simply copied from weapons within my Reality Marble. Even when forging my newest sword that sat on the table behind me I had used enchantments from many differents weapons and simply made sure they wouldn't interfere with each other.

Now I'd have to make entirely new enchantments from scratch. Well not really from scratch, I did have literally thousands of enchanted weapons to use as examples of how enchant weapons properly.

I grabbed a particularly good piece of wood and some strong cured guts from a bull, cracking my back as I stretched. It was a good thing I had all night to do this because I'm fairly certain I wasn't going to be getting this on the first try.

* * *

My head snapped up fast enough that I could swear I heard my neck cracking as I heard the door to the smithy open up. I blinked bleary eyed as the light of dawn filtered through the open door frame, silhouetting my commanders figure as she walked into the forge.

"Shirou." she seemed to pause to take the sight of me all at once, sitting cross legged on the floor, a light brown wooden bow, about one and a half meters long short for a long bow, in my lap with covered in runes a pale shade of green, the paint still drying in places. "How long have you been awake?"

"Ha-ha, er about that." I laughed lightly as I moved my left arm from cradling the weapon in my lap to scratch the back of my head, feeling the way the bones creaked as they did. "Somewhere around, twenty four hours, give or take?"

"Twenty four hours?" I could feel the exasperation in her voice.

"Give or take." I reiterated my earlier point, as if it would change anything.

"So you've been up all night working on that bow?" She looked to the weapon in my lap as she spoke probably taking her first good look at it.

"Well, not this particular one." I looked over to a pile of shattered chunks of wood in the corner of the room.

This was my fifth attempt, the first one had exploded in my hands when the reinforcing runes had interfered with the more complex enchantments. The second had gone off when I was trying to add an enchantment to make the wood on the bow more water resistant, the third when I had been stringing it, apparently it hadn't been able to take the stress of bending and the enchantments to keep it durable and flexible had reacted to one another.

The fourth attempt had gotten far enough that I'd been able to draw an arrow before the enchantment reacted to the steel in the tip and then everything went wrong. I hadn't considered how fae runes might react to iron forged by human hands.

I heard a deep sigh and I looked back to Lucina as she turned away from the pile of splinters. "You didn't get hurt did you?"

"Avalon took care of it." A few chunks of wood in my hands wasn't much to the ancient sheath.

"That's not what I asked." She shook her head, rubbing her forehead as she spoke. "Does it work?" she pointed to the bow in my lap with her other hand

"Er, hopefully?" I shrugged as I held up the bow. I had gotten it strung and even managed to draw it without issue but I couldn't be sure that nothing would go wrong until it was fired, and I didn't want to do that in here.

"Alright, let's go and try it out, if it doesn't work then you'll just have to make something simpler, you can't spend all this time on a secondary weapon for me to use, there are better ways to gain an advantage in the siege." She was right about that, and I'd give the point if it weren't for the fact that I was considering far more than the siege.

"Yes, but after this siege you'll need it for the next. Or you'll want to use it to pick off bandits from a range, or to lure risen into a trap. Having a good bow will greatly expand your range of options in battle so for the sake of the battle after this and the battle after that and the one after that I want to ensure that you're as well armed as possible." There was a reason I used that massive black bow almost as much as Kanshou and Bakuya themselves.

My commander paused as she considered my words. "I'm surprised that you of all people thought that far ahead." Ugh, that stung. The fact that she already knew well enough to realize that I was awful at planning for more than the immediate future was pretty surprising though. Was she that good at reading people or was I just that simple?

"Regardless Gangrel may attack any day now, and we cannot afford you to be exhausted from staying up all night, and what time you do have would be better spent on other projects. Hopefully this bow works but if it doesn't you'll have to give up and make something simpler for me to use for time being."

"Alright commander, if you say so." I only gave in because I was pretty sure that this one would work fine. There were only so many things that could go wrong right?

"Anyway you shouldn't be too worried about me getting tired, I've pulled plenty of all nighters before battle before, if I get some coffee into me I'll be fine." I hadn't drunk much of the stuff back in Japan, but after moving to London and fighting along enforcers I had gotten used to drinking the stuff. It was a good way to help you stay alert on long missions and carrying around a thermos of the stuff with my supplies wasn't hard. It'd only been destroyed a few dozen times too.

"Hmm, coffee? What's that?" I locked eyes with Lucina as I was halfway through standing up and came to a halt as I realized something. They didn't have coffee here. Shit.

* * *

I stood over the stove in the kitchen, doing my best to wake up as I whisked some eggs in a large bowl. Lucina and I had tested out the bow, firing it at a shield I had traced in the small area in between the smithy and Chelsea and David's home. The bow seemed to work just fine, we had fired off several shots each before deciding to stop when one of the arrows pierced the shield I had traced. While that wouldn't have been impressive with a leather or wooden shield the one I had traced was made of heavy steel and was a few centimeters thick in places.

I poured the eggs into a pan on the stove noting the thickness of the mixture. Lucina and I had been invited last night to stay with Chelsea and David, we had intended to get a room at an inn, but had agreed to stay when Rommel pointed out that most rooms would be occupied by the fleeing villagers and merchants.

"You do realize that I could cook instead?" I didn't react as I heard Chelsea speak up from the doorway to the kitchen behind me. I had heard her door open, her footsteps as she approached the kitchen and even her breathing as she stood behind me watching me.

"I know, but I enjoy cooking so I'm happy to do it. Plus it's a good way to show thanks for letting me and Marth stay here." Using my commanders fake name in public was surprisingly easy to remember. I wasn't sure whether it was habits as a magus or the fact that Marth was a wielder of her blade as well.

"Well I wish you'd let me do it, I need to thank you somehow for teaching my son. If you weren't helping him I don't know what we'd do." She walked up beside me as I spoke, pulling a clay pot out of one of the cupboards.

"Don't worry about it. Honestly it's a huge help just to have access to a forge, and having David work with me on my own projects is great too." I pushed around the egg mixture in the pan a bit before letting it sit for a moment to cook, turning I glanced at Chelsea as she pulled premade dough out of the clay pot, breaking it into chunks and placing them on a large flat stone.

"What is it that you're making?" I looked up at the woman's eyes as she spoke, away from the work she was doing with her hands.

"Omelettes." I gave the answer without thinking.

"Really? They look different than the ones I'm familiar with."

"Well, the recipe is from my home, quite far away from here, so I'd be more surprised if it was something you were familiar with." I folded over the egg in the pan as I spoke, taking note of how the fluffy dish jiggled. Giving a nod in satisfaction I put the food on a plate before pouring more of the mixture into the pan.

"You?" I looked back to the dough the woman had been working with. She had finished separating it into chunks and had grabbed a cloth bag off a shelf, one I knew was filled with salt from my own exploration of the kitchen.

"Just some rolls." She spoke as she took a handful of salt out of the bag and tossed a bit on top of each pile of dough. "I figure they might be good to go with breakfast, or at least good as something to eat for lunch if you and David get too busy in the forge. I know how James could get sometimes."

"We might be, we got a lot done last night but there's still so much left to do. Honestly we could work for weeks and there'd still be more ways to prepare for the battle, so the question is more of what to prioritize and how much we will get done than when we will finish everything." I folded the egg again and slid it off the pan onto the same plate before pouring the last of the mixture into the pan.

"I guess that's just how wars work isn't it? No one is ever completely prepared for them and we can try to put them off as long as possible but they still happen." I watched her place the stone slab and the rolls on it in a large oven, surprise evident on my face from her words. Was this woman really so familiar with the nature of war? No, I shook my head. It wasn't this woman but this world, one where war was a constant in people's lives, I knew from Lucina's blade that this era would be exceptional in terms of warfare, but that it also wouldn't be unusual. Falchion's history was long, and it was wielded in war against man more often that it was against any kind of monster or dragon.

I looked back to Chelsea, confused as to why she was just standing there before I realized she was still waiting on a reply. "Ha," I gave a halfhearted sigh, "I guess so." I looked back to the frying pan, shaking it a bit to test the consistency of the eggs. Nodding I once again folded and tossed the omelette onto a plate. Before putting out the small flame I had been cooking on and setting the pan back down. Chelsea seemed to notice that I was done. "I'll go get Marth and David, you can pull out those rolls in ten minutes." The woman gave a small laugh as she left the room and I could barely hear her as the door closed. "After dinner last night I can't wait to taste his omelettes." I smiled as her voice faded. It seemed I had a reputation to uphold already.

* * *

I looked up from the spear in my hands as the door to the smithy opened. It was midmorning already and David and I had been working in since breakfast. I was getting good at enchanting the spears, the enchantments were simpler and weaker than Lucina's bow so there weren't any violent reactions if there was an error but I hadn't made even any minor mistakes in the last four. "Shirou, he's here." I looked at Lucina, making out her frame as she was lit from behind by the sunlight before standing.

"David, keep working on the spears, I'll handle this." I spoke to the boy as he made to stand and follow me.

"O-okay." For once the boy stuttered out of surprise instead of nerves. I suppose he should come, since it was his business deal that I'd be completing, but he had work to do and I didn't want him slipping up and giving something away or granting the man I was about to meet leverage. This was about to be a battle, one of wits and words instead of strength and steel, one type of battle that, though I utterly loathed, I was at least skilled at due to my time with Rin. I would never be as skilled with words as her, but spending five years around her I was bound to learn something.

I walked from the smithy into the house, before making my way to the storefront. It was a less than thirty second second walk yet I could see the impatience on the man's face as I stepped into the room. Not that I could blame him, with the upcoming battle I knew any soldier in Ylisse's army would be busy. Behind stood two other men, wearing similar uniforms to the officer though theirs lacked the cloth badges that the higher ranked man possessed. "Robert, glad to see you could make it."

"Yes, well while I was busy I couldn't very well miss a pickup for weapons. These two are helping me today and they'll put the weapons in the carriage outside once our business is concluded." He opened his mouth to continue before stopping as he seemed to realize something. "I never told you my name yesterday." I made no efforts to conceal my smirk as his eyes narrowed.

"I have my own contacts in the Ylissean army. Finding out your name wasn't difficult." Not technically a lie since I never said that my 'contacts' had told me Roberts name, just that I had them. And it wasn't hard to discover his name, just by seeing his sword I had known it instinctually. Well, in for a penny in for a pound as they say in Britain. "Jackson, Steve." I gave each of the men accompanying Robert a polite nod as I said their names, taking note of the blades at their hips. Hmm, Steve's blades was in bad need of some maintenance, and the smith that made Jackson's put too much coal into the steel mix. "Well, the weapons are over here, one barrel of sixteen spears and one barrel of eighty arrows. You can either pay for the barrels and keep them or return them by the end of the week. There will be a markup if you decide to keep them though."

"Yes, yes, I know how this works. I'll be paying the markup, here is the money. You two, grab the weapons." I took great pleasure in the way Robert's eye twitched as I moved on from the soldiers behind him, making seemingly nothing of the fact that I knew not only his name but the name of the men behind him.

While it was only a little impressive to discover the name of a random captain in just one night it was down right impossible to learn the names of two random soldiers, not to mention Robert had probably just randomly picked two guys to accompany him rather than planning it out in advance. Which meant Robert believed that I had either found out who they were while they were on their way here or that I knew every soldier that Robert had under his command.

I took the small pouch of gold coins that Robert held out and made a show of checking the bags contents, a little bit of structural analysis had told me it was the right amount but I didn't want Robert to think that I was trusting him too much. I made no move to stop the men as they grabbed the barrels instead setting the pouch on the counter, I'd hand it over to David or Chelsea later.

"Now, about the magic weapons." I looked back to Robert as the soldier spoke, forcing my smirk to transform into a friendly and apologetic smile, one that I used to have on my face often during my time as the Brownie of Homurahara and because of that I was very good at faking.

"Ah, yes. I'm sorry to say that I won't be able to make any magic weapons for you. After discussing it with my commander last night it was deemed impossible. I'm just going to be too busy in the time leading up to the siege." Robert, for his credit seemed to take my statement well.

"How about making weapons after that then? The war will not be over with one battle." My false smile didn't wane a bit, though it did grow more apologetic.

"Unfortunately I won't be able to then either." I used one hand to scratch the back of my head as I spoke, what was normally an unconscious tick of mine being imitated for the sake of acting.

"I'm sure you can make room, or cancel some of your other business. You're not the only one who talked to your superiors last night, Commander Davis was very interested in your weapons. I'm sure you don't want to disappoint a commander of the Ylissean army."

"Of course not." I acted ignorant of the threatening tone that the non question was posed in, taking my hand off the back of my head before letting it drop along with my facade.

"Which is why I will be keeping my contract with Commander Rommel rather than entering a new one." I stared the captain dead in the eyes watching him flinch back at my words.

Davis was the Commander of the Second Ylissean Army, and while he held the same rank as Rommel he didn't have nearly as much influence. First of all Davis was only a count while Rommel was apparently a Duke. Second was that though Davis and Rommel had both served in the previous war Davis had been a proponent for the war while Rommel desired peace, and since Emmeryn's military policy bordered pacifism that meant Rommel held more power now than Davis, and it didn't help that despite his dislike of the war Rommel had performed excellently.

Of course I hadn't known any of this until after Lucina had lectured me on it all, even if it was more than two decades before she'd taken the throne this was the nation she'd ruled, it was no surprise she'd know the politics.

"What?" The shock was evident in his voice. "No, there's no way you've managed to get a deal with Rommel, he's only been in Ylisstol for a day and he should've been far too busy to hunt down rumors of magic weapons."

"Well, you're right about how busy the General was." I gave a dismissive wave of my hand as I spoke, all part of the theatrics. "So it helped that we were already acquainted and that I had planned to fight alongside him in the upcoming siege anyway. Setting up a purchase of enchanted weapons was just a matter of ironing out a few details and arranging for pickup."

It was at that moment that a knock sounded on the door and I looked over to it. "Oh, speaking of that must be one of Rommel's captains now." I brushed past the stunned soldier and pulled open the door, already aware of who exactly would be on the other side. "Captain William, it's good to see you." I gave the man a friendly smile as I moved aside to let him through.

The man's temporary post as one of his commander's captains had ended up becoming permanent after the battle, and so now he was the perfect individual for Rommel to send to get the weapons from me. Trusted enough to not try to skim money off of payments or steal weapons, already acquainted with me and since he was so new to his role he wasn't able to do as much to prepare for the battle ahead as the other captains.

"Shirou, it's nice to you too." He seemed to fumble with his posture a bit, trying to decide whether or not to salute me before thinking better of it. "How are the weapons doing?"

"Good, we've got one dozen spears and three dozen arrows already enchanted. We can get them packed up and I'll give you some papers detailing the enchantments for Rommel. The arrows are pretty simple, more piercing power and they catch flame automatically, they have to be one use only otherwise the enemy would start shooting them back. The lances on the other hand will keep working unless you break them or damage the runes too much. " I start chatting avidly with William about the weapon enchantments while ignoring Robert, partly because I had been enjoying the creation of my own weapons, partly because he actually needed to know this, and partly just to push Robert a little more.

"First you invite me here to discuss business then you go behind my back to deal with another, and now you're just going to ignore me!?" Robert was clenching his hand in front of him, fist trembling. "Fine then, I'll take my leave but you can be sure this won't be the end of this!" With that the soldier took a sharp turn on his heel before walking out the door.

"Well that went well." I gave a short derogatory laugh as I thought about how it had all gone to plan.

"Are you sure this is okay?" I looked over to William as he spoke. The man was far less sure, both about our plan and its success.

"Yeah, if Rommel is right about how valuable a magic sword smith is than no one is gonna risk offending me or making me leave just for one captain's wounded pride. Even if he gets his commander involved the worst they'll do is pull out of their contracts with David. And with the deals with your commander those contracts are more of a bother than a good source of business."

I walked around to the back of the counter as I spoke, pulling out a journal, pen, and inkwell and beginning to fill out entries on a ledger. James and David had kept flawless records of business and I wasn't going to let that change because of me.

"Well, I guess you two would know better than me." The man gave a small shrug as he spoke before perking up as he remembered something. "Oh, so where are the weapons exactly?"

"Still in the smithy, they're all done but we didn't want to have them out here while Robert was here." I doubted that he'd try to seize them or anything but no need to risk it. "You've got the money." It wasn't a question, I trusted Rommel enough to know that he wouldn't flake on payment, even if the money had to come out of his own pockets.

"Yeah, er, can we just go grab em or does someone have to watch the shop?" I was about to answer him when someone else cut me off as the bell on the door rang again.

"I can do it, I don't mind."

"Ah, Marth. Thanks for telling me when to head in." William was the first to respond to Lucina as she entered.

"It was no issue. As Shirou said, the whole thing was an act, so someone had to give the actors their cue." I nodded at her words, finding myself agreeing to the sentiment.

William hadn't just randomly shown up while Robert was here, no, after Lucina told me that he had arrived she went out the back to go get William from where he was waiting nearby. I was glad she was so willing to cooperate but I didn't actually need anything more from her

"Don't bother with the store. There's nothing left to sell and we won't be taking anymore orders so there's no need to be open. Just lock it up. C'mon William, we'll get the weapons packed up so you can go back to see Rommel."

"Hm, very well. If that is the case I'll accompany William then. There's nothing for me to do here and I'm sure that Rommel could use an extra pair of hands." There was a relieved look on Williams face when he heard the offer for help.

"That'd be a big deal, thanks." I didn't comment on their conversation, instead grabbing the bag of coins from Robert off the counter and leading the way through the back door towards the smithy.

"Any idea when we can expect Gangrel to arrive?" I started to question William as we walked, I'd expect the Plegians would be approaching Ylisstol now. If he used the mages in his army combined with raw labor force of an army it couldn't take longer than one afternoon to extract his men, meaning he should have been ready to march his full force, as opposed to the smaller groups that had pursued Rommel and myself yesterday, by dawn this morning.

"They should be getting close, scouts stopped heading out since we started seeing wyverns from the walls. Can't send a foot party without risking getting attacked from the air and you can't send an air party without fearing archers." The soldier gave a small shrug as he spoke.

"Hmmm, and how long would it take to for Gangrel to prepare for an assault?" In my own world besieging armies would have to construct tools to aid them in their siege. Ladders would take a few hours, catapults a full day at least, and if they wanted siege towers they might remain camped outside an enemies walls for over a week. But in a world where magecraft and phantasmal beasts like wyverns and pegasi are common place in an army things may be different.

Lucina seemed to realize that there might be differences between siege warfare here and in my own world, for she answered before William could. "A smart general would spend a few days on reconnaissance and building ladders and weapons for the siege, before attacking. In general the longer a siege goes on the better for the attackers, however in this case we can expect reinforcements from Ferox after a week or two at most."

A scowl appeared on my commander's face as she continued on. "With Gangrel though, he'll probably recklessly assault on arrival, relying on his wyverns and mages to get through the walls." I nodded as she finished, while that was what I'd been expecting it was also the worst case scenario for Ylisse and more so Lucina and I, we wanted the siege to stretch on so that we could continue to work on more weapons for ourselves and Rommel.

"At the border fort Gangrel just threw conscripts at us until we started to run out of arrows and get tired." I turned my head to look at the captain as he man had just experienced the Plegians tactic first hand afterall, he was the closest you could get to an expert without being a tactician. "I don't know if he's still got enough men for that, after taking so many losses at the border. But he might use foot soldiers as cover for his wyvern riders and mages."

"Ah, thanks for the info." A thought crossed my mind as I addressed the man. "But are you sure you should be telling us all that? I'm pretty sure we're technically just civilians." What the recently promoted captain was telling us could qualify as military secrets after all, even if low level.

"Actually Shirou." Lucina chimed in to correct my false assumption. "We're mercenaries under the employ of Rommel for the time being." I turned to Lucina the questioning look on my face obvious enough that I didn't have to ask.

"I set it all up yesterday while you were working in the smithy. It's a daily contract for a below market price. That way we aren't draining Rommel's pockets while also keeping it official and saving enough money in case we do need it. Our current duties are 'To remain on standby in case of an attack and assist in weapons collection.'" I blinked a few times before a wry smile split my visage.

"So we sit around ready to fight and keep working on the contracts David has with Rommel." I paused as a thought occurred to me. "Does that mean I'm getting paid as a smith to forge weapons for Rommel and as a deliveryman to get them to him?"

"Not actually, since you aren't taking payment from David beyond board and the chance to use the forge for personal projects, and while I am accepting payment from Rommel you aren't seeing any of the gold, not in the form of a cut or in wages." I knew that already if course, but for the sake of drama I gave an exaggerated sigh and placed one hand on my head.

"Oh, such misfortune. I was always told someone would take advantage of my good nature one day, now here I am working two demanding jobs and seeing not a single coin in pay." My tone was as sincere as my words and I didn't even try to hide my grin.

I heard William snort and knew that Lucina would have a familiar grin. I pushed open the door to the smithy with the two following me noting that David had been watching the door when I came in.

"Here catch." I tossed the bag of gold at the boy seeing his wide eyes as he fumbled with it a bit before securing it in his hands. "You can give him the money captain." I looked to the soldier behind me as I moved to a corner of the smithy and dragged a barrel of spears and arrows away from the wall.

"Right," William walked over to David, handing him the gold rather than tossing it like me. "Payment for thirty-six enchanted arrows and twelve enchanted spears." The bag was notably bigger then the one I had tossed and if David's reaction was any indication much more than what he was expecting.

"This, this is way too much!" The boy glanced between the bag and William, only taking a moment to glance at the bags contents.

"Fella, that's honestly not enough. Magic weapons can be trump cards on a battlefield. One guy that knows what he's doing can be a hero or a monster with that kinda weapon. Give a dozen guys that kinda thing and, well, let's just say I'd hate to be a plegian soldier right now." David took in the man's words and glanced from him, to Lucina, then to me before opening his mouth. I cut him off before he could say anything though.

"No, I'm not taking any. I'm fine with being able to use your forge and materials to make weapons for myself and Marth. And it's not like I need money anyway. And even if I do end up needing some in the future Rommel is paying Marth and I as mercenaries under his employ right now. By the time the contract ends we'll have a good nest egg built up." I saw the boy falter, trying to think of an argument, I was ready to give the final blow but my commander beat me to it.

"Take the money David. You may not need it now but you might in the future. Use it to take care of your mother, to take care of yourself." David's head hung a little lower but the blush on his face wasn't shame but simple embarrassment.

"Alright, I got it." The boy gave a small nod as he gave in, taking a moment to place both bags on the work table.

"Right then, Shirou, I'll be back later. Come William, your commander will want to see these weapons with his own eyes." William nodded at Lucina's words and turned towards me. I hefted the barrel I had moved up and handed it to the man before he turned to leave.

Lucina herself opened the door for William before pausing a moment and grabbing her bow. "Right, let's go." She pushed the door open, pausing to hold it for the encumbered officer.

"I'll come over this evening with whatever weapons we complete for you. I'm not sure how much we'll get done since there's other things to work on but it'll be something." William gave me a small nod and a smile.

"Thanks." He turned and left, following behind Lucina as they exited the smithy and began making their way to Romell and his forces. I took a moment to roll my shoulders before turning to David.

"Alright, let's get to work."

* * *

I walked with a bit of skip in my step as I moved towards the barracks where Rommel's men were stationed. We had gotten a lot more done than I had anticipated, another fourteen arrows and nine spears enchanted, five total enchanted flat blades, and a full quiver of thirty magicless arrows for Lucina. I didn't have time to test how magical arrows interacted with the enchantments on her bow and I didn't want to risk something going wrong, again.

The sun was just setting and the view of it beyond the city walls was beautiful as it painted the town orange. The image of it would have been peaceful if not for the huddled families of displaced villagers and armed soldiers running from one place to another.

Regardless I had business to attend to, the entrance to the barracks wasn't guarded, probably due to being underhanded and while that made it easier to get into the barracks it also meant I didn't know where I was going.

I wandered for a while, trying to stop the random soldiers who went one way or another in the halls. It was busier than I expected, and only about half the soldiers I called out to responded and it wasn't until the eighth man I managed to stop that someone seemed to know where Rommel was.

That took me to a different wing of the barracks, one of several drawing rooms within the military complex I was told. This one however was guarded.

"Halt. What is your business here?" Two women guarded the door donned in full but thin plate armor the visors on their helms down and blocking my view of their faces. Their posture and tone spoke volumes about their personal discipline and experience.

A glance at their hip told me they were royal guards, a worrying prospect as that told me that one of the royal family was here, and since Chrom and Lissa should still be en route to Ferox so that meant that Emmeryn herself was here.

I shifted the barrel in my grip, moving it so that the women could see my face better. "I've got a weapons delivery for Commander Rommel from smiths David and Shirou and I was told he was here."

"The Commander is here however the meeting will not be interrupted for a mere delivery. Take the arms to one of his captains and get your payment from them." The women dismissed me casually and moved to look back to the wall behind me, a signal that she was trying to end the conversation, not that I could let her.

"The weapons are meant to go straight to Rommel, and I have business with him besides." No response, I'd have to step it up. "The weapons are enchanted and I need to discuss my personal assignment under the Commander." That drew their attention.

"Magic weapons?" They both looked again giving both me and the barrel another glance.

"There was rumor that Commander Rommel had a new source of magic weapons." The woman paused a moment before questioning the other. "Why do I recognize the name David?"

"I believe that James has a son named David. We've given the man a few jobs in the past, mainly when the royal smith was busy or away." The woman gave me a look that even through the helm I could tell was appraising. "And neither he nor his son should be capable of crafting enchanted weapons. Which begs the question of who this Shirou is."

"I'm Shirou, and while David can't manage enchantments yet he is more than capable of making arrows and spears to be enchanted." The two women shared a look before one stepped forwards and reached for the barrel, paused for a moment and gave me a look. I lowered the barrel in my hands, setting it on the ground for a moment and stepping back to allow the guard access. "Feel free."

The woman hovered her hand over the barrel for a moment before grabbing an arrow and pulling it, twisting and turning it in examination. "So?" The other spoke out only a little impatient.

"I'm no expert but it seems legitimate. There are strange markings all over the shaft and while I'm no mage it does _feel_ different. But I've held a Levin Sword before, this is little compared to that."

"Rommel didn't need a personal weapon for himself or one for his elites, he required weapons with simple enchantments that could be mass produced for relatively little cost and be used to bolster his forces after the battle at the border." I paused to ensure that the women were listening and that they took in what I said.

"That combined with the short timescale meant it'd be pointless to give him weapons with powerful or flashy effects, weapons that would require time and practice to use properly. Instead subtle effects that would increase performance and could be used the same as a normal arrow or spear were preferable."

The two glanced at each other before the one holding the arrow slid it back into the barrel and pulled out a spear this time instead. She took only a few seconds to analyze it before replacing it and nodding to her companion. She stepped into the room and I moved back to the barrel of weapons, taking a moment to gesture to it. There was a pause as the royal guard discerned my meaning before taking a step back and placing herself next to the door. I lifted the barrel again and waited. It was seconds later that the other guard stepper back out, followed by a familiar face.

"Shirou! Nice to see you boy. Glad you made it to the party but you're a little late." He glanced to one of the women before looking back to me. "Leave the barrel with the girls I'll have someone pick it up." He turned back into the room for a moment and as he did I placed the barrel next to one of the women. Hesitating for a moment before reaching in and grabbing a wicker basket.

"Tell Captain William that he's to come here and pick up the weapons before distributing them amoung the men. Then get ten thousand gold out of my treasury, here's a note for it, and bring it to David at James' Smithy, if you need directions get them from William." I turned back to see Rommel giving orders to a younger boy, he couldn't be any older than David, probably a messenger of some sort. I ignored the number because despite how large it seemed I was still learning about this world's economy and odds were it was a fair enough price, possibly too fair.

Rommel looked back to me and saw the basket raising an eyebrow at what I was carrying. "What's with the basket?"

"Food." I said simply.

"Hahaha! You're a man after my own heart! C'mon, can't fight on an empty stomach and I'm sure none of those old dogs will whine too much if I eat in the meeting." While his words were lighthearted there was one part of what Rommel said that I latched on to.

"Fight? There's going to be battle already?" It wasn't beyond our predictions, but I had hoped the siege wouldn't begin until at least tomorrow or the day after.

"Yeah, bout a quarter hour ago Plegian troops were sighted from the walls. They're getting into formation now and prepping some ladders. We've got five hours tops, three if we aren't so lucky."


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: BET YOU WEREN'T EXPECTING TO SEE ME FOR A WHILE! Yeah, for the first time in, what, eight months or something, I'm updating exactly a week apart from the last time. While this won't be a double post like last week, since last week was meant as a coming back to writing and beginning a new story thing, I feel like this update is a big deal for a couple of reasons.**

 **First is that not only is this chapter coming exactly a week after the last one the reason it is is because I decided I WANTED it to, and I spent five hours writing last night and two hours editing this morning to make sure of it. And second is because with this chapter Awakening to Battle officially hits over 100k words. Kind of crazy the more I think about it, I know there's not actually that much of a difference between 98k and 100+k but it feels different. And it also means that this story will show up on any search that's limiting the story to be above a certain word count.**

 **Now this chapter ends what I've come to think of as the story's first arc, don't really have a name for it since Siege of Ylisstol isn't nearly the full thing but whatever minor details. I'm planning to post again next** **Saturday too, but it'll be From the Game to the Grail then, which will probably disappoint** **some of you but I hope more of you will be glad to know I'm actually continuing to actively write.**

 **That's all this time, so I thank you for continuing to support the story and give you Chapter 15 of Awakening to Battle.**

"We should lead a sally on those plegian bastards! We have the calvary for it and there's plenty of space outside the walls. We can hit them hard then dart back into the walls, make them think twice about attacking." One soldier stood up as he started yelling, his reddish brown hair and stern face giving off an aggressive image.

"We've got the horses sure, but we don't have the men. They outnumber us almost three to one, if we get stuck in a melee we'll get wiped and we can't afford those losses if they're going to assault." Another spoke as he sat, his glasses glinting in the torch light of the room as he stared absently a the wall.

"The calvary will be useless anyway, they aren't trained as well for foot combat and there's no way to use their horses on the walls, and if we get to combat in the streets than we've already lost. Better to use them now for an advantage in the coming fight." The first spoke up again, getting quieter but also more frustrated by the sound of his voice.

"Sergeant Andrew, while your strategy may give us an edge I refuse to sacrifice my people when there are other options."

"Yes, my Exalt. I'll respect your wishes and obey your orders." And just like that all the frustration and anger was gone from Andrew's voice. With nothing more than a salute and a few seconds he was sitting once again, his posture and face giving no sign of disappointment at his plan being shot down.

I looked away from the man to the one that had quelled him. Sitting at the head of the immense table that seated over two dozen military officers was what looked to be a frail weak women. She was thin, pale, beautiful and looked so out of place surrounded by large men, many strong and muscled from training and others scarred from battle.

But despite that she commanded the respect of all the men here, and while some had wished this war would have begun sooner, and others wanted to attack the plegians and invade their desert all would obey their Exalt. One who had been raised by a warmonger of a father yet saw the value of peace more than any other.

I shifted in place as I stood at the wall, a couple meters behind Rommel, Lucina at my side. Rommel had lead me in here, proclaimed me as a military advisor he had employed after arriving in Ylisse yesterday and told me to stand next to Lucina.

Oh and he took the food I had brought. Not all of it fortunately, the basket had been filled with small sandwiches and I had grabbed a few for myself and Lucina to eat.

We were receiving some dirty looks for it from the others standing alongside the wall but no one had spoken up about it and I didn't really care about a few looks. The battle would be starting soon and hunger was the enemy.

"If it just came down to an assault by Ganrgel's infantry we'd be fine, the problems are his wyverns and mages." Another soldier spoke up, this one drumming his fingers on the table as he did.

"Our pegasi were virtually wiped out at the border, and while we have mages most of them are more scholars than soldiers. They'll do in a pinch sure but against the plegian fire and darkness mages that've been training for and fighting in battles they won't be enough." The man with glasses spoke up again, looking away from the table to scan the room. My own eyes perked up when they stopped on me before moving to Rommel.

"Actually, didn't Commander Rommel obtain some enchanted weapons recently? Depending on the number and the effect they might be what we need here."

"Why yes, he did. Stole them right out from under me too he did. Man was supposed to forge weapons for me but then I find out he went behind my back and made a deal with Rommel." Though I didn't recognize the man his words told me that this was Davis, a taller man, with thin wiry muscles and dirty blonde hair. He had chiseled features and lacked any fat on his face, any excess burnt away by training.

The accused commander tossed the last bite of a sandwich into his mouth, taking a moment to lick off his fingers before he spoke. "Aye, I got some enchanted weapons, and neither I nor Shirou went behind anyone's back for me to get them. Don't think they're quite enough to take on an army of plegians though. These thing are good but they're made to be simple and effective."

"Then perhaps the smith has other weapons, he cannot have sold you his whole stock. He'll have to hand them over, if he doesn't put up a fight we'll even pay him." I noticed Rommel's head twitch and I knew he was going to respond but I decided to speak for myself instead.

"The only mystic weapon I still own that anyone but me could use is the blade at my hip. And I do believe I'll be needing that in a few hours." All eyes in the room snapped me as I handed the sandwich I had almost begun to eat to Lucina.

"And you would be the magical smith that Rommel hired then?" Davis, to his credit, didn't seem surprised or upset at my presence.

"Yes, my name is Shirou Emiya, Rommel has hired me to both provide weapons for him and to fight in the upcoming battle." Davis simply nodded before speaking up again.

"And where did you meet Romell, anyway. I find it hard to believe you bumped into each other at a tavern." Despite his words the man's voice carried no humor.

"Shirou and I met at the border fort. He's the only reason me and mine made it back here in one piece." Rommel's voice was flat and serious, an oddity for the large man.

"Shirou Emiya," All eyes in the room turned to the head of the table, where the Exalt sat. "I recognize that name. My brother told me about you, you were at Ferox." The woman stared at me her eyes scanning over me, looking at me in detail for the first time, before moving over to the woman standing next to me. "You work alongside Marth correct?"

"Shirou approached me and asked if he could aid me in my mission, I allowed him to under the condition that he obey my orders." Lucina took a half step forwards as she spoke, ensuring all eyes were on her.

"And what mission would that be?" The bespectacled man talked again.

"It's not my secret to share." Was the only response I gave.

"And I choose not to share it." Lucina's words came immediately after my own.

"You honestly believe we will accept that? To have two individuals of unknown goals and origins sitting in on our high level military meetings while we discuss tactics to defend the realm? To trust two virtual unknowns with our backs in battle when they won't even trust us with their names, 'Marth?" Davis' voice was filled with as much accusation and venom as his words and while I would've liked to be offended he wasn't wrong. We were far too suspicious but it wasn't like we could share Lucina's secrets.

While the only reason not to share my story was due to how unbelievable it was, Lucina's story could have massive repercussions and she desired to save her future, not destroy it by ensuring she and her friends were never born, or that they might be completely different people.

"Davis, while I appreciate your concerns and am glad you're thinking about the concerns of Ylisse I believe we can trust Marth. She saved my life and my brother just the other night." The words spoken by Emmeryn set the whole room astir and as people began chatting with one another in a murmur and looking around. In all that chaos one man's eyes focused on my commander's, the glasses wearing man that had been speaking up throughout the meeting.

"The assassination attempt." The man spoke up, in a loud but calm voicing, his declaration drawing everyone's attention and quieting the room. "You were the outsider that infiltrated the castle to fight them off." His eyes shifted over to me as he paused for a second. "And that would make you the mysterious mage that attacked them from the southwestern tower." I wasn't sure how he knew that I had attacked from there, probably something to do with the soldier I had knocked out, but it didn't much matter.

"Yes, that was me." There was no use in denying it.

"I don't suppose you may be able to use similar spells in the upcoming battle." The man crossed his arms and stared at me, I could almost see the various plans and stratagems flying through his mind. "Ah, my apologies. You probably don't know my name. I am Colonel Stewart, I lead the city garrison."

"Shirou I'm just a mercenary, as for my magic, I could do the same thing but it's very limited. It requires me to prepare the weapon in advance and I can only use it once per weapon." It was the story we had agreed on, rather than admit that I could project weapons as powerful as Caladbolg on demand we would pretend that it was weapons I would forge in advance and use during the battle.

"Do you have any prepared?" Stewart took my admission in stride, I could tell he had plans ready based on my response.

"Five, it takes a moment to prepare it once I decide to use it though, no longer than thirty seconds."

"This might work then." Stewart thought aloud as he looked away from, leaning back in his chair as he stared at the ceiling. "Our mages should be able to check the plegian mages if they focus on defending, we've got some skilled wind and light mages and they should be able to hold off any fire and darkness magic. And Shirou can prevent the wyvers from making any concentrated offensive. If they group up he can wipe them out, and as long as they're spread out enough our archers can handle them."

"That might work. We'd need to worry about the ladders still but we have enough men to guard the walls. As long as they can't go over them or blow up the gate we can hold them back." Andrew spoke again, his own mind at work as he absent mindedly spoke.

"Are you joking? You would trust a complete unknown to be the linchpin of our entire plan? If he is not as capable as he says or decides to abandon us then we will have lost everything!" The frustration and disbelief in Davis' voice was clear to all.

"Commander, while I understand your concerns I have already decided to trust Marth and Shirou. Besides should this plan not succeed we will simply be back to where we began, no closer nor further away from defending Ylisstol than when we started." Emmeryn, spoke again, her tone completely serene while also allowing no argument.

"We are running short on time as it is. If this plan has any chance of working we must take that chance and do our best to see it coming to fruition."

While Davis didn't seem too pleased with that I could see him visibly swallow that feeling as he replied. "Yes my Exalt."

"Very good then. Men you know what you must do. See to it that you complete your final preparations and get into position. May Naga bless you all." Every person in the room stood and saluted, even myself and Lucina, before they started making their way out of the room, Lucina and I followed Rommel.

"Boy, those weapons you were talking about, where are they?" Rommel didn't slow or turn to look at me as he spoke, continuing down the hall as we more so plowed, than maneuvered, through the rest of the foot traffic.

"Back at the smithy, with David."

"How fast can you get them and be back?" I took a second to do the math, it was a fifteen minute walk from here to the smithy, if I ran there and back with some reinforcement it wouldn't take long.

"Ten minutes."

"Go, get them. Then come straight to the western gate, we'll be on the south side of the gate. Find me and Marth, we'll be standing together." I nodded at his words, not bothering to make a verbal reply before beginning to push my way through the other people in a new direction, towards the nearest exit.

*line break*

I waded my way through the crowd of soldiers standing behind the gates, making my way towards a set of stairs that laid within the walls. Everywhere I looked were men dressed in ylissean blue, armored, whether it be simple leathers and an iron helmet or links of chainmail or even full plate, and carrying their weapons.

Assembling in front of the gates were spearmen, three groups of them, two of them around fifty, notably larger than the third which was twenty one strong. It would have been an imbalance had the third not been Rommel's, wielding my spears and led by a man I didn't actually recognize, probably one of Rommel's more veteran officers. I couldn't even identify him by his weapon, since he had only received it this morning and had yet to significantly imprint himself on it.

Behind them were three more groups of men, each also fifty strong. Two carried the kind of weapons I was most familiar with, swords. While the third carried axes, something that while rare in a professional army of my own world, was fairly common here.

Having the spearmen in the front meant they could skewer any calvary that tried to rush, and hold infantry at bay long enough for the other groups to rush forwards into skirmishing distance, utilizing the reach of their allies' lances to use hit and run tactics. Striking at the most opportune opponents and darting back to the safety of their allies attack range.

It was a basic but extremely effective formation for defending small gaps, and by having six groups total where, two could easily block the entrance, one of spears and second group of either axes or swords, meant you could swap out men to give them a chance to rest and tend to smaller wounds.

Whoever arranged the defensive was a good tactician, they knew their basics and knew them well enough to take advantage of every available factor. The only thing I would have considered doing differently would be to have some archers placed behind them, to fire on attacking troops that were underneath the gates where the soldiers on top of the walls couldn't hit.

But it was possible that there weren't enough archers available to do such a thing, or that there were slits in the ceiling of the gate and archers could get a better shot from there. Or even some other factor in the battle, such as the archer's accuracy or a lack of arrows. I wasn't an expert on large scale tactics and I didn't even know all the factors here anyway.

I made my way up the stairs, surrounded by a constant stream of traffic, archers and laborers going up to move into position or to bring barrels of arrows to where they'd be used, and messengers bringing orders and information to and from the various captains, commanders, and other officers spread around the area.

I got a few a weird looks and hushed whispers as I walked up the stairs. I could've used reinforcement to hear what was being said but I'd need my prana for the fighting and I could guess anyway.

I was the only one here not wearing the blue of ylisse on my equipment, and the equipment I did wear was even stranger. Bumeran didn't stand out that much on my hip, neither did the quiver of arrows on my hip. It was the massive black bow and tall quiver normally used for javelins that were strange. Stranger still since my oversized quiver carried five flat thin blades.

My foreign looks didn't help much either, while I had never looked much like the japanese I was my red hair stained white didn't look much like it belonged anywhere. And while my skin was a far cry from the dark brown I knew it'd become if I lived long enough it was too tanned to mark me as anything other than half or even a quarter feroxi in this world.

Rumors were probably also spreading about me, just to compound interest in me. Just my status as a mystic smith would draw enough eyes, but I was also a mage trained for battle, one whose mysteries were a far cry from the standard elemental magic that was used here.

I scanned the crowd for a moment before catching onto where I needed to go. It wasn't even because of Rommel's size or the way the soldiers gave Lucina more room and reverent looks than they even gave their commander. It was actually Falchion.

The blade was a Noble Phantasm after all, and even in its weakened state it still gave off a mystical signature, one I could smell. I hadn't noticed until recently, in part due to how weak it was in its current state and partly because of constant exposure to other, more noticeable magecraft, in this world had overpowered it.

It was the scent of reptiles, fire, strength, and light. Terms that, well, most weren't actual scents, but that was the only way for me to describe the sensations I got. Regardless the scent of Falchion made it relatively easy for me to find the one who wielded it.

"Commander." I addressed her even as I began undoing the leather strap that held the quiver I carried to my belt. I had no need to carry arrows when I could trace them and while I could've produced some for Lucina it was a bad habit for her to rely on me to have them.

"Shirou." Lucina looked to me and took the quiver, strapping it to her own belt with one hand while the other held her bow. "You made it right on time, it looks like they're almost done with the ladders." I looked out from the wall to see what she meant, even as I took my own bow off of my back.

"Seven of the ten ladders are complete, two of the three ladders are two rungs short of being fully assembled, the third needs only one rung." I saw the shocked expression on Rommel's face and gave him a smirk. "I have pretty good eyesight." The man's face became even more confused because Lucina decided to cue him in.

"Shirou has a spell to refine his senses. With it he beats even the best of scouts." I gave the woman a false pout, like a child would at one who spoiled their fun, before my expression turned serious again.

"It's useful for scouting opponents and targeting with my bow. With my normal vision I'd be guessing at half my targets with this thing's range." Rommel looked over bow as I held it.

"And what's your range on that thing?" He looked towards the swords on my back before speaking up again. "Should probably wait for them to get closer before you use any of those. Would suck if you miss." He seemed to take the fact that I fired swords from my bow in stride, Lucina had probably told him while I was gone.

"I could hit them from where we stand now, but it would be a waste since I couldn't keep it up long enough to wipe them out or drive them away, and from this far and on my own their mages could probably erect a defense after the first or second attack."

Rommel nodded at my words but repeated his earlier point. "Yeah, but what if you miss?"

"I don't miss." I stated it simply, plainly as if it was a fact, after all it was. "Sure, my opponent can dodge or block if they're fast or strong enough." I elaborated. "But my arrows always go where I aim for."

"And your swords?" The question came from Lucina not Rommel, and it was that and her tone that told me she was joking.

"Those too." I responded regardless, a small grin on my face. "Still, even if Iand all of them I only have five, I need to make them count." And even if I decided to actually trace and break weapons I would run out of prana long before I could kill an army.

It was my role in this fight to ensure the plegian wyverns couldn't simply rush the wall and land right on top of us. While we could hold them back or even drive them off of the walls the fighting would give the enemy infantry time to place ladders and scale the wall behind the wyverns, giving them a more solid foothold.

"That you do." Rommel spoke up again. "This is a siege after all, it's in its nature to be a long fight, and we can't afford you to be wasting your tricks early." Rommel looked over me again before his gaze stopped on the five blades I carried. "What're those things called anyway? They're proper magic swords after all, not the basic stuff you sold me, they've got to have a name."

"I agree, a comrade of mine used to say that a name gives a weapon power. He wouldn't rest until every blade in the armory had a proper name, and while I wouldn't go that far these are proper works they deserve this much at least." I gave my commander's words a sigh.

I didn't have that much pride in my work to desire to name them, but I had seen this coming and knew I couldn't win. So rather than get chewed out for not having named them I had come up with one already.

"Detonator swords. These blades, and any like them I make in the future, are called detonator swords." I saw the confused look on their faces, I wasn't surprised, they didn't have the same technology I did in my world, they probably hadn't invented non-magical explosives or detonators for said explosives with magic around to do the job for them.

"A detonator is an object used in my homeland to trigger and explosion from a distance." A look of understanding came upon my commander's face but the ylissean commander seemed more confused if anything.

I opened my mouth to explain further to Rommen before pausing when I noticed all sounds had seemed to stop.

I turned to look at Lucina, to ask what was happening but a small motion pointed my attention in the right direction.

Standing atop the gates themselves was a small group of women, but none stood out more than the Exalt herself. Despite standing at the front of one army and in full view of another who desired to end her she was the picture of serenity. Her face was stone and her posture perfection, yet there was no tension in her body.

"People of plegia, I ask of you and your king, can there be no peace?" Her voice echoed throughout the silent battlefield, despite the amplification magic being used it didn't boom so much as it simply moved throughout the two groups.

"Oh it's the Exalt herself. The Exalt of hypocrites and maggots! Where's your dog of a brother? Gone of to Ferox with his tail between his legs! I guess he's more bark than bite after all!" The man that replied to the Exalt with the same magic being used was her opposite in every way.

His posture horrid as he flexed his back in absurd ways that couldn't be comfortable and twitched constantly. His hair red as blood and more of maddened mess than hair as short as his could have possibly been by accident. His small golden crown was entangled in messy locks and seemed more fit for a minor prince than a king. And the rest of his outfit even less regal, a yellow cape and curled toe boots made him look more like a jester than anything else, though with how he spoke and acted a jester was an apt description for him.

"King Gangrel, I see you have decided to stop toeing the issue at least. But I must ask once again, can we not have peace for our peoples?" Emmeryn didn't so much as flinch at the king's insults or appearance.

"Oh yes, I know how much you'd like that. Almost as much as I'd like the Fire Emblem, so unless you hand it over then neither of us will be pleased, will we?"

The Fire Emblem, said to be capable of granting any wish by channeling the divine power of the Dragons. While it wasn't the Holy Grail and couldn't fulfill any wish there was still far too much that could be done with such a powerful artifact, and it was one of the few things that could be an effective tool against Grima.

"I told you before, the Fire Emblem should only be used when humanity is at its most desperate, to save us all. Is there nothing else that could appease you?" I had to give Emmeryn props for trying but she was far too naive, she was costing more lives through her stubborn effort for peace than she was saving.

"Oh what a miser of an Exalt. To not use such a powerful tool when you have it. Is Falchion lying in some vault somewhere too? Maybe you've got Gradivus under your mattress, you know for a rainy day! Heeheehehehe!" The man gave off a laugh that would have sounded slightly off for a little girl, coming from a grown man it sounded like some poor soul had been infected with madness incarnate.

"Will you not allow for peace?" This was simply getting redundant, nothing reasonable would appease the man.

"Hmm, well if you won't give the me the Emblem I could just take you. I'm sure your pup will come running with the Emblem anyway, and even if not that just gives me more time to make you squeal." The man's words gave everyone present pause. I could hear Kaunta slip a few centimeters out of its sheath, and Rommel leaned forwards a bit, like a hound ready to hunt.

Almost every ylissean soldier I could see actually reacted to that, shifting the grip on their weapons, fingering arrows or gritting teeth. Emmeryn was a popular ruler indeed.

Of course the ultimatum was a ridiculous one, even more ridiculous than demanding the realms treasure was to demand its ruler. Any sane monarch would refuse, which was what had me worried as the pause went on longer without the Exalt giving a response.

I looked away from the Mad King to see the Exalt in a heated discussion with one of her guards, furious whispers being exchanged. I took a moment to reinforce my hearing just to have my fears confirmed.

"Shit." I cursed under my breath and took a half step closer to Lucina and grabbed her arm, ignoring the way she flinched slightly at the contact.

"Commander, you need to get out of here, shits gonna go down soon and you need to be out of the way when it does." She turned to me eyeing me up and down in confusion before her eyebrows shot up for a moment in surprise.

"You mean?"

"Yeah." I spoke in a hushed whisper, Rommel was distracted and while he may support my course of action I wanted to give him plausible deniability at the least.

"Then we need to do something." Lucina turned towards the plegian army again, hand hovering between Kaunta and Falchion, unsure of which to draw.

"No, I need to do something, you need to get out of here." She didn't seem convinced at my words. "There's no way I'm walking out of here a free man after what I'm gonna have to pull, and while you could help they'll definitely take your weapons if they capture you, and there's no way that sword won't get recognized."

Lucina's eyes widened and she looked to her hip as she bit her lip. She stood in contemplation for a moment before looking over to me. "You can handle it?" I gave her a stern nod, she knew what I was capable of, odds were we'd be able to fight the siege like normal after I pulled my trick, true I wouldn't have Lucina to watch my back but Rommel should be enough. I just hope they'd let me fight after what I was about to do.

"You could be executed for this."

"You really think she'd kill me for trying to save people?" It was a rhetorical question. Emmeryn would never allow death if there was another path.

"Fine then, I'll head to Plegia, raid supply lines, make Gangrel starve if I can. I'll be in position when Ylisse finally invades."

"Alright, don't know where I'll be but worst case is I have to break myself out of jail. If I'm still stuck in some hole when the war ends I hope you'll get me out, but don't risk everything for it." I wasn't valuable enough of an asset for Lucina to lose her life, or even for Lucina to lose Falchion.

"I won't abandon you." The words were supposed to make me feel better but now I was worried that my commander might actually lose her blade trying to save me. Oh well, that was a problem for the future and despite massive improvements I was still only halfway decent at long term planning.

Lucina turned and slipped her way through the crowd of soldiers, with everyone focused on the coming battle no one noticed anything and I waited a few moments before acting. If I waited much longer Emmeryn or Gangrel might make their move before me.

I began to reach for one detonator swords before shaking my head. While Gangrel might take the attack as an excuse to start the battle Emmeryn might also be able to cool things down by surrendering herself if it was an attack by one rogue mage. It needed to be an army attacking.

Discreetly I reached into a nearby soldiers quiver and drew one of his arrows, replacing it with a traced copy of it so he wouldn't be missing one later. While I could have simply traced an arrow under normal circumstances an original weapon would make this work better.

I took a step back to keep myself out of Rommel's view before I drew the arrow part way back on my bow and taking aim. I didn't need to target anyone specifically and didn't want to kill anyone too important too early so I simply chose a random plegian mage and aimed for his neck.

I took one last breath, steadying myself as I prepared to fire and then let go. Less than a fraction of a second later I analyzed the arrow as it moved, copying everything from the materials, experiences, and even its current speed and trajectory before tracing it ninety nine times.

The result was a hundred arrows flying in a loose formation towards the enemy army, while I could've copied a traced weapon the degradation would be larger and I'd risk too many of the arrows being dispelled when they landed, due to the damage they received and their distance from me. As it was only six of the arrows dispersed into prana on impact and the difference between one hundred and ninety-four wasn't significant.

"Why how COWARDLY!" Gangrel seemed less upset and more excited at my preemptive attack.

"So you show your true colors now, you're such an underhanded knave!" Gangrel paused for a moment before shrugging. "Well I guess that makes two of us, ATTACK!" With a start the plegians began to surge forwards, infantry rushing the walls, wyverns taking off, mages casting spells and archers drawing their strings.

All the action drowned out any protest Emmeryn might have given, instead the only thing you could hear on the ylissean side was orders for action. Men drew their own bows and mages created domes of wind to ward off attacks. In all the madness I simply drew my bowstring back, tracing an arrow into place, before firing, ending whatever target I had chosen.

I had shot off over a dozen arrows when the drums of boots moving in my direction attracted my attention. I continued firing even as a small squad of women, dressed in full plate stopped a few meters away from me.

"It was you wasn't it? The one who fired off that attack?" One of them stepped forwards. Sliding the visor of their helmet up so that I could see their eyes as they did.

"Yeah, it was me. I'm surprised you figured it out and got here so fast." I didn't even look at them as I spoke, just continued to fire on the plegians.

"You're not going to deny it?" The woman had some surprise in her voice, but mostly apprehension. Most criminals tended to fight back after all, either by denying guilt or trying to escape.

"There would be no point, the attack was centered around me and it's known that my magecraft works with weapons. I can't run either, if I did you might lose the battle and I can't afford Gangrel to take Ylisstol anymore than I can let him take Emmeryn."

"Damn it boy, what the hell did you do." Rommel ran his hand through his hair, cleary stressed at the implications of the situation. Both me and the woman ignored him though, and he had to move on to ordering his men around the escalating battlefield.

"Regardless of how cooperative you are being you are still a criminal, you cannot walk free."

"And yet you cannot afford for me not to fight in the battle." I spoke calmly as I continued to fire. "No one else can use the weapons I crafted." I said referring to the detonator swords. "And without them you risk failure."

The woman seemed to consider me for a moment, her grip shifting on the lance she carried.

"Phila." I knew that name, the captain of the royal guard. And I also knew that voice. The Exalt walked forwards, passing the women meant to guard her. "Would this man be the one who attacked the plegians?" The addressed woman, Phila apparently, gave a small bow, making sure to keep her eyes on me as she did so.

"Yes, my Exalt. He has admitted as such, and while he refuses to abandon the battle he also admits guilt and says he won't flee." Even as they spoke of me I just continued to shoot. The plegian infantry had reached the walls and were placing the ladders, and I was still trying to keep the wyverns from making an organized attack.

"You are Shirou Emiya correct? You saved me the night before last and now you stand here stopping with my attempts to make peace." The Exalt paused a moment and looked around at those surrounding us, while the soldiers had been stealing glances at their leader Rommel had made sure their focus didn't lapse too much.

"I see Marth is not here anymore. Would you mind explaining yourself?" Her tone carried no sarcasm or demand, it was a legitimate question and request, one I would not mind fulfilling.

"My commander left when Gangrel demanded you as a captive. She realized my rough plans without too much of an explanation and while she could have helped with the battle we thought it not worth risking both of our imprisonment." I paused for a moment and narrowed my eyes.

With a flash of movement I drew the first detonator sword and drew it back, altering and reinforcing it lightly as I did so. It was already fragile from the alteration and excessive reinforcement so it didn't take more than a trickle of prana to break it.

I released the weapon, watching calmly as it flew over the heads of the plegian army before hitting the side of a deep red scaled wyvern, shredding its body and roasting its flesh even as it blew the two next to it away as well, blowing the head off of one and a wing off of another.

I nodded, satisfied that their attempt at coordination had been effectively foiled before going back to firing arrows. I looked back to Emmeryn and her guard for a moment to see that Phila had lowered the point of her spear at me, likely a reaction to me suddenly going for a sword.

At my gaze she narrowed her eyes before standing straight again, here lance pointed at nothing but the sky.

"Sorry about that. Anyway, that's why Marth isn't here anymore. While her aid would have been beneficial we thought it less necessary than my own." I looked over to the Exalt to see understanding in her eyes. Despite ruining her plans and forcing her people into a battle she had been willing to sacrifice herself to avoid she seemed to hold no grudge.

Truly this woman was too nice for her own good.

"Though that explains your logic it does not explain why you did it. It is one thing to kill assassins in my defense, it is another to doom innocents to slaughter. Even the plegians you kill now are no more guilty than the ylisseans you stand beside.

"Most of them at least." I commented, thinking about a certain king I would have killed by now if not for Lucina's far too convincing arguments.

"Most of them, but even those not so innocent shouldn't have to die if it can be avoided." It was a naive sentiment, one that any logical human would disagree with. A man like Gangrel should die, along with any bandits and murders he had hired. Yes, many in the plegian army were simple conscripts or professional soldiers but many others were bandits, pirates and marauders. Ones who fought under a banner only to justify their killing and pillaging.

Any logical person, one who has experienced the horrors of war and death should agree that death is only what they deserve. But Emmeryn was not a person of logic, and neither was I.

"I agree with you." That seemed to catch the woman flat footed. For the first time I saw an expression other than serenity on her face and Phila openly stared. "However right now the cost for them to live is the lives of others. The lives of the soldiers that will die in a war that grows longer by the day. The lives of villagers caught up in the fighting, the lives of the victims of bandits that will take advantage of the chaos to pillage."

"There is one thing I want to do above all others, that I dedicate my life to, and that is to save people. As many as I can even if that means abandoning others." Though I continued firing as I spoke it was with a machine like practice, my thoughts elsewhere, thinking of the fire I had had come from and the future that sword had witnessed.

"And I disagree with you. If there is any chance of it I believe you should save all that you can, not merely those that it is most convenient to aid." I lowered my bow for a moment and stared at the woman, how similar she sounded to me not so long ago.

"You are naive, and that naivete will only cost more lives than it will save." The two of us stared each other down, a war of ideals being waged with a single glare, before one of us broke the silence.

"Phila, confiscate his sword and watch over him. Once the battle is complete lock him the castle dungeon. I will see to him after that." With that the Exalt turned around and began to walk away, not even waiting to make sure I handed over the blade.

The royal guard captain took a step forward and gave me a challenging glare. I looked away from the Exalt's back to meet it. Without breaking eye contact I reached down to the blade at my hip. I paused a moment before undoing the belt of leather holding the sheath to my hip, removing the whole thing before handing it to her.

The woman took the handle in her dominant hand, leaning her spear against her shoulder so she could hold the sheath with the other. She drew it about half way out of the sheath to inspect it before deciding what she saw was satisfactory and replacing it in the sheath and attaching it to her own belt.

"I'm gonna get that back right?" I question half jokingly. While Bumeran had always been meant as an alternative to traced weaponry, and therefore expendable, it would be unfortunate to lose it in such a way. Even if I could simply forge another weapon.

"That is not for me to decide." The woman walked forwards again, placing herself behind me, just within range of her spear, as the rest of the guards she had brought with her dispersed to keep the plegians from scaling the walls.

"Fair enough." I gave a small smile, I couldn't have asked for a better immediate response to my actions. I looked ahead, raising my bow once more before frowning and reaching for a detonator sword. There was work to be done.

*line break*

I sat on a the stone floor of a dungeon cell, my back resting against the wall as I stared at the door, absently tossing and catching a traced dagger in idle boredom. The first three daggers I had traced had been confiscated by the guard watching my cell. But when I traced an arming sword instead just to mess with the man he had simply requested I go back to something smaller.

I tossed the dagger particularly high this time, almost hitting the ceiling with it, before pausing as caught it, the sound of footfalls echoed throughout the hall my cell was in. The man guarding my cell started for a moment, fumbling a bit before saluting. There were a few words exchanged I didn't catch since I didn't bother to reinforce my hearing before the man nodded and walked away, his figure in my view replaced by two woman I had seen recently.

"Phila, Emmeryn." I gave them a small nod each, as if simply acknowledging an acquaintance you passed on the street. "So what time has my execution been set for? I'm quite a busy man, many things to do, so I'd like to get it done with." I waved one hand casually as the dagger in the other faded at my command.

"Your sentence will not include an execution, however you will be considerably busier after it so I fear you won't be so pleased." I gave the Exalt a raised eyebrow to show my confusion as she spoke. I didn't honestly believe she would have me executed, but I had expected to be sitting here for quite a while longer than it sounded like she was planning.

"Oh, and what is my sentence actually? Community service perhaps? Ylisse has quite clean streets, maybe that's why. Punish treason against the crown with picking up trash, I'm sure any city's streets would be clean with that."

"Not exactly though you're close." Phila spoke up, the first smile I had seen on her lips, albeit a small one, one that I doubted was because of my sarcasm.

"Your punishment will be based on a law that my father created, one that, while I hadn't ever planned to take advantage of, will be quite useful here." My look of confusion was upgraded from one raised eyebrow to a full furrowed brow. A law her father passed? The warmonger who had invaded Plegia?

"What sort of law would that be?" There was an edge of concern to my voice. While I doubted Emmeryn would do anything harsh there were too many variables here and I was out of my depth, it had me on edge.

"During the previous war the country started to run out of men eligible for conscription, and while my father could have expanded the age range for military service that would have reduced farm production further." No surprise there, an army needed food to march and while the previous Exalt had been many less than pleasant things an idiot wasn't one of them.

"So instead he passed a new law." The current Exalt continued speaking. "One that allowed him to conscript criminals to fill his ranks." And it was then that pieces filled themselves in.

"You're going to conscript me to fight for Ylisse, as punishment for disobeying orders while fighting for Ylisse." I was incredulous, under any other circumstances it would be insane, however my motives for the crime and my actions after it made it a sensible punishment. Not in that it would make me reconsider my crime, or prevent me from committing it again, but in that it would be a major boon to Ylisse in the war, one they sorely needed.

"Yes." Emmeryn spoke up again as Phila took a step forwards, the reason for her smile now known. "While there were some disputes coming up when I announced your planned punishment at the post battle meeting they were taken care of." I stood and moved towards the door, pausing as Phila opened it and motioned for me to exit.

"No one was actually opposed to the idea. While many disagreed with your disobedience more were pleased with your reasons and results." I followed behind the Exalt as she began to walk away, idly taking Bumeran from Phila as she handed it to me and strapping it back on my belt.

"No, the arguing came in about who you would serve under. While Rommel wanted you back under his command for familiarity Davis thought that you should go to someone else since you had already acted out under him once." Emmeryn paused and I took the moment to interject.

"That someone wouldn't happen to have been himself, would it?" The woman turned her head and looked at me over her shoulder, a small smile gracing her lips.

"It may have been." Of course. Emmeryn looked forwards again as she continued to walk. "Stewart requested to have you as well, claiming that the lack of a history that you have with Rommel and Davis would be better than having one."

"The only one there that didn't seem to want you was Phila here." We ascended a set of stone stairs, leading up to the ground floor and out of the dungeon.

"It would be a disgrace for a man to serve as the Exalt's personal guard. Besides, no man ride a pegasus." I blinked for a moment, caught off guard. I wasn't sure if she was kidding or not.

"So, who am I supposed to be fighting under then?" If they were still arguing about it they wouldn't have come to get me, or at the least Emmeryn wouldn't. She would have had to listen to, and mediate, said arguments.

"Fortunately for everyone involved someone else showed up and requested command over you. They're higher ranked than anyone else involved and since he said you'd been on friendly terms with him and his men before it was an easy choice." We came to the front door of the prison.

Though within the castle walls it was a separate building meaning that when we left we came out into the castle courtyard, where a familiar face was waiting.

"Ah, Shirou." Chrom spoke up, a happy smile on his face as a familiar, but different, Falchion hung from his hip. "Welcome to the Shepherds!"


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Alright, here it is Chapter 16, on planned release. Technically a day early but it was planned for Friday since I know I won't have the chance tomorrow. This chapter is just over 10k words, and is bit a of calm between the storms. Not a lot of excitement, more of a social chapter, introducing or** **expanding** **on a few characters we saw little of before.**

 **Now about next weeks release, the planned Chapter is From the Game to the Grail Chapter 3, but I don't know if I'm gonna make it on time. The reason this is going up on Friday is because I'm out of time Friday Saturday and Sunday, but then I'm leaving again Wednesday and I won't be back again until the following Saturday. That gives me very, very, little time to work on a Chapter that I've barely started. I'll be spending whatever time I have Monday and Tuesday on the chapter but I'll have other stuff, more important than my hobbies to get done, so I don't know if I'll make it. If I don't, I'll be spending all weekend to get it done, and to try and make sure the week after that has a release on time. I can't make any calls for certain yet of course, but I thought you all should know about the situation in advance. Tuesday night I'll update my profile with how things are going so you all won't be completely blindsided.**

 **Alright back to AtB, this chapter is setting things up for the rest of the war with Plegia, and we'll be getting back to the action with the next chapter. Since Shirou is running with the Shepherds now that means there are A LOT of characters running around, that means that while a character can be a main focus of one chapter they may not appear in the next, I'm trying to keep as many of the Shepherds consistently relevant here but that means few of them will be of major importance, and which ones are are going to be based mainly on who's interactions I like with Shirou and who's I can use to further plot and character development while also keeping things interesting.**

 **I'd also like to mention Lucina here, she doesn't show up even once this chapter, a first for the story actually but that's about to become a lot more common. As a part of the shift from Shirou following Lucina to him following the Shepherds Lucina won't appear for at least a couple more chapters. I considered using POVs other than Shirou to change that, and while I do plan to use other POVs in the future I don't think I'll be doing it in the immediate future, or as a regular occurrence.**

 **That's all, a bit of a long AN this time, a habit that I've been trying to break and I WAS doing a pretty good job of but oh well. Thanks for reading and I give you Chapter 16 of Awakening to Battle.**

"Aren't the Shepherds a knightly order?" I spoke up as I walked behind Chrom. We had parted from Emmeryn and Phila and began walking, well, to where I didn't know but Chrom was supposed to be my new commander for now, and it wasn't a situation I was too opposed to so I just followed.

"Of sorts." Chrom looked back to me as he spoke, a friendly smile on his face and nothing but joy in his eyes. It was a stark contrast from the stern serious tone his daughter gave out at most times, but I could see the similarities between the two.

Both sought to aid others, Chrom by befriending them and making their problems his, Lucina by taking them under her protection and facing whatever threatened them with deadly force.

It was clear where the difference came in, while Chrom did have experience with bandits and other threats that required lethal force there was always a possibility of reasoning with a human foe. Risen had no reason.

"The Shepherds are a volunteer order, and while you don't have to be knighted to be a member with the exception of our trainees every member of the Shepherds is given the same ranking as a knight." Chrom continued walking as he spoke, rolling the muscles in his shoulder as he did so.

"So I, a criminal, am now a knight, because I got conscripted, into a volunteer force." I did my best to emphasize the absolute insanity of the situation, of how contradictory these circumstances were.

"Yep. Glad you get it." Chrom just brushed it all away, not caring whatsoever for how ridiculous the entire thing is. "Ah, here we are. C'mon in." The prince stopped for a moment before opening the door to a set of barracks we'd arrived at.

"These are the Shepherd barracks?" I spoke up as we entered, a little surprised by the place. It was a rather simplistic place, large enough for an order double or triple the size of the Shepherds, but without any of the luxuries you'd expect from a place where two of the realms royals worked.

"Yeah, this is it. When we founded the order Frederick wanted a large command center, an entire wing of the building for me and Lissa, hell he even tried to get Emm to build a castle for us."

"I told him no, this was going to be a small order meant to guard the people, not an elite force of knights. We didn't need to be sitting in the lap of luxury, it was better to live like normal soldiers, keep us closer to the people we protect." I gave the man a sideways look, I knew he had been serious in his efforts to protect his people but this went beyond that. He may be the more violent of the two but he was definitely Emmeryn's brother.

"But you still live in the palace?"

"Hahaha! Yeah, I do. I'd say that Frederick doesn't compromise on some things, but honestly the food is better." The man paused and gave me a predatory look. "But that may change soon." My expression died and I didn't have to force the dead tone when I spoke again.

"I hope you didn't drag me out of that cell just so you could have a new chef."

"No, that's not the reason, or at least not the only reason." His words didn't inspire confidence. "Part of it is just because you are a skilled mage and warrior, and having that on our side will be helpful."

"I could've been on your side under Rommel, or Davis, or Andrew, or any other officer in Ylisse." I interrupted Chrom to point out the flaw in his logic.

"Yeah, but Robin was talking about ways the Shepherds could actually have an impact on larger battles despite our size."

"She said there were only two real ways, split us up and disperse our guys into the other forces in the military, or keep us together as a sort of small mobile taskforce. To move around the battlefield and complete small scale objectives that would have a real impact on the larger battlefield." The commander of the Shepherds shrugged before continuing.

"I didn't fully understand everything she said but that's the gist of it. Anyway, I'd rather keep the Shepherds working together when we can and Robin agreed that that was the better option tactically."

I did my best to ignore the prince's casual dismissal of high level tactics, I suppose it was just best that he had found Robin in that field because otherwise I worry the Shepherd's tactics would've been limited to hit, and hit harder.

"And to make this mobile taskforce thing work we need powerful skilled men at our disposal, and while I'm more than happy to make sure the troops we already have and any recruits we get are simply trained up to be stronger, recruiting people like you, who are able to stand head and shoulders above the common soldier, is a major boon to us."

I grudgingly acknowledged his logic with a nod. I was a weapon best employed in a tactical manner, my magecraft meant I could do crazy things in a big battle when I used it right.

I had never fought with any larger a group than a few dozen enforcers until I arrived in this world. Since then I had fought in two large scale fights.

In the first I had forced the enemy into a trap long enough to allow my allies to escape, in the second I had successfully checked one of Plegia's more powerful military forces long enough for my allies to secure victory.

Both of those were under my own plans or the plans of those with limited or false information on my abilities. Under a truly skilled tactician with intimate knowledge of my abilities? Well, I can only say that things had indeed gone very well the few times Rin accompanied me on one of my crazier missions, and despite how much of a genius Rin was she was a researcher, not a tactician.

"And that's not even the biggest reason I asked Emm to let you join the Shepherds." I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at Chrom, a brow raised.

"The biggest reason I wanted you to join me was because you have the right attitude for a Shepherd. You said it yourself, to my sister, you want to save people and in the end that is the goal of the Shepherds, my goal." Chrom paused, gaining a far off look as his gaze shifted away from me.

"I'm not like my sister, I can't get people to talk out their issues, the only way I have to save people is this here." He made a gesture towards Falchion at his hip as he spoke.

"So, I decided to put it to use. Emm can handle the complicated stuff, the diplomacy and making peace. If she's gonna be the carrot I'll just have to be the stick, that way while she stops most of the issues me and the Shepherds can handle whatever's left." He looked me straight in the eye, his smile faltering a bit.

"And I hope you'd be willing to help me with that too." That wording raised a few flags.

"'Hope'? 'Willing'?" I spoke up as a I questioned his phrasing an eyebrow raised. "I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to have a choice."

"No, you're not supposed to, but I'm giving you one anyway. You saved my sister. I owe you this much at least."

"Marth could've handled it without me, it is her you should thank." I had faith in my commander, she would be fine without me.

"I'm not talking about the assassination, I'm talking about the battle. I know what Emmeryn was about to do, what you prevented from happening. And while I'd like to sit here and say that I'd have gotten her back I can't know that for certain." His tone turned even more serious.

"You saved my sister's life, if you want to leave here and return to Marth I'll see you off with a wave and a smile. I'll tell Emm you escaped in the night, with your magic it'd be no surprise, everyone knows you could've broken out of that cell on your own."

I thought about that. It is true that the only reason I had stayed in that cell was my faith that Emmeryn wouldn't have too harsh a punishment and my desire to maintain at least cordial relationships with Ylisse.

It was then I realized, this 'punishment' was also a second chance. Emmeryn and her generals had decided that my previous crime was meant for the good of Ylisse, and decided to show me enough trust to give me some freedom and the chance to keep fighting. If I fled here it would shatter what trust I had with the ylissean military, and while a few like Rommel and William would forgive me most of the military would not be so trusting.

Emmeryn would probably forgive me as well, as long as Lucina and I continued to support Ylisse in our own way, and Chrom wouldn't even mind. But that would still ruin any chance I, or Lucina, have at cooperation with the military outside of the Shepherds in the future.

And it's not like fighting alongside the Shepherds would be such a bad thing either. I had argued with Lucina that we should have come forwards with her father and joined them, even if she had to remain in the guise of Marth while doing so.

And while I had conceded that the risks of her being so close to so many who could recognize her brand for so long was dangerous the risks involved with me fighting alongside the Shepherds were far lower.

"I'll fight with you." Chrom perked up when I spoke again. "But only for the duration of the war with Plegia. After that I'm going to rejoin with Marth, and whether we fight together again after that will be up to fate." Chrom nodded at my words, clearly satisfied.

"Great, then I'll have to do some introductions, you know most of us already but we've had a few more join our numbers since Ferox." Chrom started talking animatedly and walking towards another door in the barracks, likely leading me to a mess hall or lounge area.

"Oh, yeah." Chrom perked up again and stopped in his steps for a moment.

"You're on cooking duty for breakfast Mondays and Fridays, and dinner for Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Lunches are to be found on your own, rations will be handed out if needed and Sundays are off days unless we're marching so it's fend for yourselves, of course no one will stop you if you want to cook something up when you're not on duty."

I flinched in surprise at the preplanned schedule, as well as how often it seemed I'd be in the kitchen. I gave sigh, it'll be busy but at least I liked cooking.

* * *

"So, this is the smithy you've been using?" I looked over to Robin as she stood besides me, looking at the inconspicuous building I had lead her to.

I had told Chrom and the Shepherds that I wanted to go to the place I had been staying at prior to the battle, both to collect any goods of mine Marth had left behind and to talk to the people I had been staying with.

While most of the Shepherds seemed more than willing to let me go off on my own Frederick had pointed out I was technically a criminal and should have an escort. I hadn't put up much a of fight against it and since Robin was curious she had agreed to come with me.

"Yeah, I've been helping out around the place and teaching a few things in exchange for getting to use the forge and staying here. Marth probably came by before she left town and grabbed some things and talked to the family living here, but I doubt she got it all and they deserve an explanation for what's going on."

I looked over to the twin tailed tactician for a moment before walking up to the door, knocking a few times before pushing open the door when I got no response. I was surprised at that. It was late and the sun had already set, even in normal hours the store should've been closed, and the smithy hadn't been open at all today.

The answer revealed itself in someone I hadn't expected to see here but was glad to meet all the same.

"There ain't no way you can get us some more magic weapons kid?" The soldier spoke to the boy I was training as a smith, his tone not demanding or threatening but pleading, asking if there was anything the boy could do for him.

"N-no, mister William. I can forge spears and arrows just fine, write runes mister Shirou showed me too. But I can't enchant them and dad couldn't find a mage other then Shirou to enchant them."

"Well that sounds like an issue we could solve." Before I could speak up Robin did so herself, drawing both sets of eyes first to her then me.

"Mister Shirou! You're okay!" David perked up and ran towards, before stopping a few steps away and shifting nervously, unsure of what to do.

I simply gave him a grin and ruffled his hair. "Yeah I'm fine, but I thought I told you not to call me mister." The boy blushed under gaze, though his smile only grew.

"Hey, Shirou, sir. Glad to see the Shepherds are taking care of you." Will spoke up from where he was standing. Apparently Rommel had told him about my sentence. The captain looked away from me back to the woman accompanying me. "White hair, twintails, robe, you wouldn't happen to be Miss Robin would ya?"

"Yes that'd be me. It seems this post comes with more attention that Chrom implied." Despite her words the girl didn't seem too upset about the turn of events, merely a bit offset.

"Well, even if the Shepherds aren't a big or strong force they're still the prince's order. And you lot have been doin some impressive stuff recently. Hell, didn't you guys turn the tables on a plegian ambush just the yesterday?"

"That was this morning actually, before we turned around to help Ylisstol. Not that the help was needed." Robin gave me a glance as she said that. "Anyway you say you were worried about having problems enchanting weapons?"

"Yeah, but not now that Shirou is here. He can enchant the weapons just fine!" David looked up at me as he spoke, the look on his face told me he truly believed I could magic away all his problems. I didn't want to crush that naive belief but this world was a harsh one.

"Unfortunately I can't. I mean, if you had any weapons for me to enchant I could enchant them as long as I'm in Ylisstol, it would only take a few minutes after all, but you don't do you." David shook his head, a look on of confusion on his face.

"But I'm fighting for the Shepherds now, and we're supposed to leave in the morning. While I could stick around and work on some tonight with you I already pulled a late night last night preparing for the siege, doing another when I need to be ready to march in the morning isn't a good idea." The look of disappointment on David's face was saddening but there was nothing I could do about it.

"Well that sucks. Oh well David, Rommel will still buy regular spears and arrows from ya. You do good work 'ere and we can trust ya to keep doin it." David looked away from me to Will. I was glad that they'd still deal with the boy.

"Hmm, hey, William. How exactly are you going to get the weapons David makes? Isn't Rommel marching tomorrow too?" I looked to Robin in surprise. That's right isn't it? Most of the ylissean army would be marching out tomorrow, including Rommel's men.

"Ah, we just leave some orders with one of the officers that're staying in the city. They handle the pickups and pay out of Rommel's coffers here, then the weapons are sent out with the supply convoy when it runs to the army."

Even I knew that, it was the basics of the basics for outfitting an army. If you couldn't send new goods to the army they'd either run out of weapons or starve and die.

"Well, what if you simply send the weapons with the runes already on them through the supply lines? Then, when you get them you have Shirou enchant them there. The army is going to be marching as one force after all, so at least for the foreseeable future you'd be able to get ahold of Shirou."

"That, that might work. At the least I can't think of a reason it wouldn't. I'll talk to Rommel about it, but I don't think we'll be able to pay full price if the weapons aren't enchanted on delivery." Will said the last part to himself more than anything, he seemed more disappointed he wouldn't be able to pay David as much, rather than happy like he was scoring a discount.

"Then treat Shirou enchanting the weapons as a separate service. He worked through this smithy before right? Treat him as a worker here and and send the money, or at least orders for payment, back up the supply chain to David here." Once again Robin sweeps in with a solution.

"That oughta work. I'll tell Commander Rommel about it. That sound good to you David?" Will spoke up, the captain sounding more than pleased with the deal.

"Y-yeah that's good!" David was smiling again but he paused as he looked like he'd thought of something. "Uh, should I make the same amount as the original order?"

"Yep, that'll be good. Nice thinking kid, almost missed that." The captain turned towards the door and made to leave before calling out one last time. "Glad to see ya Shirou, and I guess we'll be seeing more of each other, what with this deal and you bein' a Shepherd and all. And thanks for the idea Miss Robin. I'll be sure to tell Rommel it was your idea."

"I don't think that's necessary!" Robin called out as the soldier left, her voice getting louder as the door shut. "I don't think he was listening. What're the odds he leaves me outta the report?" Robin looked at me as she spoke.

"Oh he's gonna tell his commander about you. Will is a good guy, he just wants to make sure you get credit for your idea."

"Except I don't really need the credit." The tactician spoke with a sigh, I ignored her though as she seemed to be mostly speaking to herself.

"Nice to see you David, but I'm afraid I can't stay long." I paused as I noticed something, or someone absent. "Where's Chelsea?" It was unthinkable that she wouldn't have heard us talking, the house was small and walls think after all.

"Mom went to check on some of her friends, some of them have soldiers for husbands and she wanted ta make sure everyone was alright." He gave me a nervous glance looking between me and the door behind me.

"Marth came by earlier right? Any chance she left any of our stuff?" I brought up the reason for my visit. While Lucina had probably taken anything really valuable or useful odds were there were a few things left.

"Yeah, she did! She came over, said she was in a rush, and grabbed her pack and a few things outta yours before taking off." I nodded, that was what I had expected.

"Alright, I'll head up to the guest room and see what she left. I wish I could stick around and teach you more but it's more important that I fight than forge." I saw the boy give another disappointed look. I felt bad, I was at least partly responsible for teaching him to be a blacksmith now and yet I couldn't stick around to teach him anything.

"Actually," I looked away from David to see Robin smirking, looking between me and David. "I might have a solution to that too."

* * *

"That was pretty clever Robin."

"Eh, it wasn't that much. It's common for soldiers to send and receive letters with the supply convoys. Sending letters to ask and questions along with the weapon shipments isn't that strange of an idea."

It was rather simple of a plan, since I couldn't be there to give him instruction and I couldn't just write him a textbook on smithing in one night he'd just have to ask questions one at a time through letter. And since there was an already established connection from Ylisstol to wherever the army ended up sending mail wouldn't be an issue.

"True, but that doesn't mean he or I would've thought of it. And even if it has its limits it is far more than I would've been able to give him otherwise." I rummaged through my pack as we walked side by side. Lucina had taken what gold was in the pack, along with the notes I had been making on my enchantment experiments.

The gold was fine, I didn't need it anyway and the Shepherds would be paying me. The problem was the notes, I could remember most of them to be fair, and the rest I could figure out using the blueprints of the weapons I had forged, but it would take time and effort, time and effort that could've been used furthering my research instead.

What was left in my pack though was my sleeping bag, an extra set of clothes, a map of the continent, and two vulnearies. Lucina had restocked our supply of medicine when we arrived at Ylisstol and I had left mine in my pack when the siege started.

I didn't need the medicine myself after all, and there was more than enough of it around the battlefield that if someone else had needed some they'd be able to get it.

"You got everything you need?" Robin took note of my rummaging.

"Yeah, I think so at least." I tied my bag shut got ready to toss it over my shoulder before I thought of something. "Am I going to need a tent?"

Lucina and I had simply camped on the ground when we were outside of cities, and when in a city we had simply gotten a room. If the weather was poor we'd keep moving until we got to a town or found a cave or something. With an army there wouldn't be enough inn rooms at any city in the world, and I couldn't rely on a cave or something either.

"It's not necessary, per say, but I'd recommend it." I gave her at look at the nondescript answer and the tactician answered.

"As long as it's not raining you could sleep outside, and since Plegia is mainly one big desert we won't be getting rain. And there will be communal tents you can sleep in but they'll be packed, noisy and smelly. So if you want to sleep in a tent you should probably have your own." Robin paused for a moment as she thought.

"Plus a tent will keep some of the heat away and keep you cooler. And if you want a tent you have to carry it yourself, the Shepherds can provide you with one but you have to pick it up before we leave Ylisstol.

I thought about it for a moment, I didn't care much for comfort so I could simply sleep outside and hope it doesn't rain. But at the same time the privacy of a tent would be nice, especially if I decided to practice my magecraft. It probably wouldn't be too heavy either, I could simply carry it with my normal pack and I wouldn't be overburdened.

"Yeah, alright. I'd like to take a tent then if it's not too much trouble."

"Don't worry, it's not trouble at all. Just stop by the Shepherd's supply depot in the morning. I'll be there until we start marching, setting up the convoy for our group." That sounded like a lot of work to do, especially for one person

"Do you want any help?" The tactician gave me a surprised look. "Tomorrow is a Tuesday so I won't be on cook duty in the morning, I can come over in then and help you get things set up before we leave."

"That'd be helpful, but don't you have your own packing to do?" I lifted the rucksack I was carrying in one hand up, showing the state of all my physical possessions in this world. "Fair enough. Yeah, if you don't mind it'd be a big help."

"I'd be happy to." I gave the woman a kind smile, it was the return of the fake janitor in a way.

* * *

"Do we have enough vulnearies packed?" Robin called out, holding a piece of paper on a small wooden board and a quill pen, the inkwell sitting on a crate next to her.

"I'm not sure, there are ten here, is that enough?" I lifted the lid of the box as I peered inside, structural analysis had told me how many were inside but I wasn't trying to show off my abilities.

"Grab ten more, then set it in the pile." I nodded, reaching into another, larger, crate and beginning to grab the potions, adding them to crate I currently held.

I had woken up around dawn and made my way to the Shepherds supply depot, a small warehouse adjacent to the barracks themselves. It hadn't been long before Robin had shown up as well, and after she got me a tent I had begun to help her.

We were getting together the supplies that would go in the Shepherds convoy, as one of the smaller military groups that would be making up the invading force we would normally only get a single wagon to store our goods, however we also had two royals amoung our number and were being treated more as an elite force than a minor group, so we got three.

The first would be filled entirely with furniture and objects for Chrom and Lissa's tents, while they, or at least Chrom, didn't actually want the treatment, they were still royals, and a personal tent was needed, both for security and to put off the right kind of image to our allies and our own soldiers.

The second was to be filled with more mundane supplies, food, water, since Plegia was a desert, and non military items like extra clothes. Robin had apparently hired a merchant to fill this wagon, deciding that it'd be cheaper to let an expert get the items and buy them in bulk than to do it ourselves. That left the third to be filled with military supplies.

"There, twenty vulneraries." I set the crate down next to the door of the warehouse, Frederick was apparently getting the wagon to load it in. "What's next?"

"Extra weapons. I've got records for what each the Shepherds will need that they won't be able to carry as well how many spares each person needs. Frederick needs us to load up a couple different kinds of lance and axe for example, and Vaike needs some throwing axes and a hammer in addition to his regular spares."

Robin paused in reviewing her notes to look at me. "You don't need any extra weapons do you?"

I gave her a dead faced look. After realizing she was serious I sighed for a moment before holding out my hand. A sword appeared in it with a burst of will power and prana, before fading a moment later.

"Fair enough," Robin nodded before looking back at her notes. "We'll start with lances, they should be lined up on the east wall, grab a barrell and load it with what I tell you."

I began following her instructions, picking weapons off the wall as she ordered, avoiding ones I knew were lower quality or in need of repair, we didn't have time for that kind of stuff now.

It was strange, while I had fought with groups before that was always magus or church executors, magus were extremely secretive as a rule, and as a part of that not very welcoming to strangers. And as a magus myself most executors did little more than tolerate working alongside me. So it was a strange experience working alongside the Shepherds.

Everyone was friendly, or at the very least cooperative. Yes, Frederick was a little miffed at me for disobeying orders in the siege, the very problem that landed me here, but he was also thankful that I had helped the Exalt. And other than that no one seemed to have an issue, all being nice and friendly.

Vaike had tried to get me drinking, Miriel wanted to research my magecraft, Sully wanted to arm wrestle, Cordelia, who had apparently joined the Shepherds since I met her, wanted to thank me, Stahl wanted to ask me about when I'd be cooking, and Ricken wanted to hear war stories.

It was strange, nice actually. It'd be unfortunate to leave them at the end of the war but Lucina needed my help far more than Chrom, and she wasn't keen on staying with the Shepherds.

"Alright, that's all the spears we need, bring it over here and we'll work on swords next." I nodded, grabbing the barrel I had been loading and started walking towards the door before it opened.

"I have brought the wagon to be loaded, as well as an extra pair of arms to help load it." Frederick, wearing full armor despite the physical labour he was about to perform, came through the door, followed by a much smaller man than him.

Skinny as a twig but with enough muscle to work despite that was a brown haired youth, dressed in a blue tunic of ylissean colors and brown pants with an x shaped scar under his left eye.

"Ah came over ta help. I don't have much ta pack so ah finished last night. I wuz wanderin round the barracks when mister Frederick said there wuz somtin I could help with." The man spoke up looking, at Robin as he did so. His gaze shifted as I approached the door with the barrel I was carrying.

"Ah, ya must be Shirou, ah'm Donnel, ah wuz in my room packin last night so we didn't meet." The man held out his hand as he spoke, I took a moment to set down the spears before shaking it.

"Shirou, I'll be with the Shepherds for a time."

"Donnel here is a Shepherd trainee, he joined us about a week ago after helping to defend his village from bandits." Frederick spoke up, gesturing to the farmer as he did. "Normally we'd leave him in Ylisstol to train him until he's ready for the battlefield but with the war no one will be here to train him, and we need all the men we can get."

"Ah can do chores and help out round camp if ah have ta. Ah'd love ta start fightin but if mister Frederick and Lord Chrom say ah'm not ready than ah'll listen." The villager didn't seem off put at all about his status as trainee, a commendable attitude for sure, one that I'd like to reward him for.

"If you need help training just ask, I'll help as long as I have the time for it. I don't fight the same way most people do, and I've never trained anyone to fight before. but I know more about weapons than just about anyone else, so I can help you use whatever you're training with, and at least tell you what you might be doing wrong."

"Ah, thanks then. Mister Frederick has been helping me but ah wanna learn as much as I can if ah'm gonna be a real Shepherd."

"Alright Donnel, let's get working then. We need to be leaving within the hour." Frederick spoke up, urging us back to work.

"Right sir!" The former farmer spoke up, and grabbed the crate of vulnearies I had left by the door before rushing to load it.

* * *

"I told you already, I prefer not to discuss my magecraft."

"Why do you call it that? Most refer to their practice as simple magic and leave it at that. Is there some distinction between standard magic and what you do?" I could do little more than sigh in response, the luggage I carried on my back shifting in response.

We had left Ylisstol several hours ago, and ever since Miriel hadn't left me alone, continuing to question me on the nature of my magecraft, no matter how much I told her I didn't want to tell her about it.

"I've looked at the weapons you made for Rommel and his men, the enchantments on the weapons are inherently different to those on a Levin Sword, and I've never seen the markings you placed on them before, they were somewhat similar to the markings that appear on the base of a Runesword but I have records of those and they are inherently different."

Well, if you can't beat them join them, and discussing the enchantments I made was better than talking about my personal magecraft.

"They're runes, it's actually a language, but I doubt you'll find anyone who speaks it anymore. The runes themselves have different meanings and by adding power to the runes you can trigger different effects. Like a rune for 'harden' would make something sturdier, or the rune for 'pierce' would make it penetrate better."

"I see, so you could place the runes for 'speed' and 'strength' on weapon to make it swing faster and hit harder." The theory was right but there were a few issues with that, but I didn't really want to get into the specifics.

"In theory you could." I simply said vaguely, attempting to end the conversation.

"But the two enchantments could be contradictory, for a weapon to hit harder it must either be swung faster or weigh more, for a weapon to be swung faster it must either weigh less or be swung harder. While both can be done how do you ensure the two runes don't simply cancel each other out instead of working together?" The red haired mage found the issue in her example immediately, pushing her glasses up with one hand as she did so.

I was actually impressed, for someone with no experience in rune craft finding the single most problematic part of it immediately was impressive. I decided that since it wasn't my personal magecraft and I was teaching David the stuff anyway it wouldn't hurt to share.

"That's the big problem with the system, you've got to use the right runes, in the right order, so that the effects compliment each other, or at the least don't interfere. The runes can even explode if the enchantment is too unstable."

Miriel was silent for a bit, going over what I had said.

"I see." She finally spoke up again. "That can be useful too though, can't it? Is that how you created the explosive swords?" That, wasn't a bad idea actually. In fact that might actually work. The runes would have to pretty well picked and set up to amplify the explosion rather than limiting the damage.

"They're called Detonator Swords, and that's not what I was doing but that might work too, maybe even better than what I was doing. I'm just creating magical swords with as many enchantments as I can fit that don't interfere with each other. Then I use a different spell to destabilize the whole thing, making it fragile enough that when I fire it off it breaks on contact, releasing all the magic inside." It was a bit of a simplification, but true enough and all Miriel needed to know about my magecraft in relation to the Detonator Swords.

"Are there some sets of rules then? As to how these different runes interact with one another and how they may amplify or interfere with each other. There must be several factors determining their effects, perhaps with experimentation we can narrow down the causes for the interference."

"Well, I do know most of the variables for this stuff, maybe not all but definitely most. There's the meaning of the runes themselves of course, the distance between the runes, the material that you're enchanting."

"The material?" Miriel perked up and interrupted me, material probably hadn't been a factor she had been expecting. I opened my mouth to explain but the redhead beat me to it.

"Yes, of course. While a rune of fire might work well on a sword forged in flames if you put the same rune on a piece of wood, a spear shaft or a bow perhaps, it'd be liable to destroy the item."

"Er, yes exactly." I spoke up with a little surprise. "But that can be useful too, the arrows I made for Rommel were enchanted with fire runes, it meant the arrows would catch fire, causing more damage to the enemy and ensuring they couldn't be used against us."

"Hmm, yes, yes. I'm not one to consider the usefulness of a discovery but I can see how that would help. But regardless there must be other factors as well? Please continue your explanation." I was surprised to find that I was happy to do just that, there was only one problem.

"Those are all the factors I can remember off the top of my head. I've got some notes in my pack but I can't get to them with my tent where it it." I had stayed up later I probably should have last night writing down everything I could remember from my enchanting notes, I wanted to do it while it was still fresher in my mind and I wasn't sure if I'd have easy access to writing supplies again until the war was over.

"Please, allow me to take your burden while you search your rucksack." I looked to the woman, surprise on my face.

"Are you sure about that?" She didn't look like the athletic sort.

"Yes, very. It will only be for a short time correct? And I simply must see your notes, your enchantments are simply fascinating." I stared at the woman a little dumbly before nodding.

"Alright then." I shrugged off the heavy tent as I tried to get access to my pack, my tent was a large one, more than enough space for two or three people to sleep in case somebody needed to borrow a roof while we were marching and made of several thick animal hides.

I absently passed the tent to Miriel, already focused on digging through my pack for the sheets of paper I had written my notes on.

"Ah here they are." I pulled them out and looked back to the mage. Or at least to where she had been, while I was digging through my bag she had disappeared.

"Miriel?" I called out, looking side to side to find the mage.

"D-down here." I heard the girl call weakly, and it was only then I looked towards my feet. There she was, completely buried by the bulk of the tent I had handed her.

"Ah, sorry, sorry." I reached down and lifted the tent up, stowing it under one arm as I helped the researcher up with the other. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, now what do those notes of yours say." I blinked awkwardly for a few seconds before nodding dumbly.

"Uh, yeah. Here lemme just find the right page."

* * *

"Alright people! We're stopping here for the night. Break formation and start setting up camp." Chrom yelled, drawing my attention away from the road we had been walking on. We had been moving most of the day, only stopping an hour for lunch, and Miriel hadn't left me alone until I read her all of my notes, twice.

In the end I had simply told her she could borrow them and make a copy for herself. She had apparently brought along writing supplies in her own pack, something that I planned to take advantage of in exchange for letting her borrow my own notes in order to make more.

"Shirou and Lon'qu are on cooking duty today!" I perked up again as I heard my name. Yeah, today was Tuesday, based on the schedule Chrom had give me I was to help with dinner. "You two, pitch your tents and stow your packs and then head over to the kitchen. Vaike and Kellam, you two need to set up the kitchen, make sure you do it well I don't want to miss Shirou's cooking because you forgot the fire wood!"

There was a bout of laughter from all the Shepherds who had been at Ferox, and I even found myself grinning a bit. I shook my head in a bit of minor disbelief and started looking for a good place to put up my tent.

We had stopped a short ways into the plegian borders, a few hours away from the Ylissean border fort, where the hard packed dirt was just beginning to give way to loose sand. While we'd probably be able to find a source of freshwater tonight this would likely be the last time we filled our water skins at anything other than one of the few oasis in the plegian desert.

I paused in my search as I found a relatively flat piece of land without many small rocks or some of the few plant life around that might interfere with my tent. Nodding to myself I set about putting up the tent I had borrowed and about a quarter of an hour later I was spreading a small blanket over the floor of the tent before tossing my bag in the corner.

My hand hovered over Bumeran, I was internally debating whether to leave the blade here or take it with me. In the end I left it behind. The odds of being attacked in camp were low, and even if I did have need of a weapon I could simply trace one. Plus leaving my sword in my tent and walking around unarmed was a good way to show some trust towards the people I had joined.

I walked out of my tent and began to scan the area around me, searching for where Vaike and Kellam would be setting up the temporary kitchen for the Shepherds.

It didn't take much to find, the tent for the kitchen was the largest one the Shepherds had, and the entire camp was centralized around it. It wasn't far from where I had put up my own tent either so it only took a couple of minutes to walk over there.

"Lon'qu, you're here already." I spoke up to the man I had dueled against not long ago as he stood outside the entrance to the tent.

"Yes, I have practice setting up camp, and the weather doesn't warrant setting up my tent." I blinked for a moment, stunned. I hadn't considered not setting up my tent after carrying it all the way from Ylisstol but I suppose it was an option. Oh well, it'd be nice to sleep inside anyways.

"Ah, okay then." I looked towards the tent, wondering why Lon'qu hadn't started if he had gotten here so early. "Are Vaike and Kellam done yet?"

"Vaike left some minutes ago to collect firewood. I have not seen Kellam but that doesn't mean he's not here." Yeah, the armoured soldier was a presence easy to miss.

"Well let's get started then, we can do some prep while we wait for the fire wood." I looked over Lon'qu for a second and considered him briefly. "You got any ideas for what to cook tonight?" He didn't look much like a chef but appearances can be deceiving.

"I am no cook, but I have been told you are and I am more than capable of following instructions." The man's words confirmed my suspicions.

"Alright then, let's go see what we've got and we'll figure out something to do after that." I walked into the tent, noting the way Lon'qu followed behind me.

The tent was a simple layout, five long tables with benches towards the front, long tables without seating against the back wall to serve as counter space pots pans and other supplies strewn about on top of them, and two stone wood burning ovens next to the counters. The stoves must've weighed a few hundred pounds, loading and unloading them must've been a pain.

What really interested me right then was the back right corner of the tent, there was another entrance there, the flap that would normally keep it closed rolled up and tied to show a wagon parked right outside the tent, filled with food and ingredients for cooking.

I walked over to it ready to begin digging around when I noticed something sticking out. A box already opened, filled with lumps of meat wrapped in paper to keep them from spoiling. I grabbed one of them and peeled back the paper, aware of Lon'qu's eyes on me.

"Pork, fresh probably bought in Ylisstol this morning. The paper has stopped it from spoiling but it won't keep for another day." I stood up and began doing a rough count, there were a little over twenty cuts of pork in the box, more than enough to feed Shepherds.

"I suppose we know what we're cooking today." The swordsman spoke up from behind me and was right, mostly.

"We know we're making pork, not what we're going to make with it though." I set down the cut of meat and moved deeped in the wagon, looking for the ingredients I'd need, I had an idea.

"Eggs, flour, salt, pepper, cabbage, oil." I started listing off ingredients as I found them. "There's no bread crumbs but we can make those." I stood up, picking up a box of cabbages as I did.

"Grab the pork and set it on one of the counters, then get back and get a few loaves of bread, the older the better." Lon'qu began following my orders without a word, lifting the crate of pig meat and following me across the room.

It took a few trips to get everything over to the counters but we did it. From there I began pulling loaves of bread out of a bag that Lon'qu had grabbed and cutting them into slices with a knife I had grabbed.

"Here, help me cut the bread up, thinner slices are better but don't make them too thin or you'll be wasting time." I did a few estimations in my head, the loaves were about the size of my head so. "We need about five loaves cut up."

"Very well." Lon'qu took a spot next to me, working alongside me. We cut bread in silence for a few minutes, placing the slices on a pair of metal sheets meant for baking.

"TEACH IS BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER!" With a yell and a dramatic fling of the tent flap Vaike entered the kitchen, carrying several logs and a bundle of sticks.

"I see you got the fuel." Lon'qu addressed the axe wielder passively, noting the wood he carried.

"Yep, and I'm hoping you and Shirou can make some sweet food with it!" He walked further into the tent, towards the stoves. "So when is dinner?"

"We just started, it shouldn't take more than an hour though." I noted the look of disappointment on Vaike's face, apparently patience wasn't a strongsuit. "If you want to help get those ovens started, we'll need them in a bit." The man perked up at that, more than willing to help in the creation of his meal.

"You got it! Teach is on the job." He continued toward the stove, a bit of a skip in his step now.

"I can help too." I almost traced a weapon at the voice but I stopped myself short, letting out a breath as I did.

"Thanks Kellam, that would be appreciated." The squinty eyed man had apparently been with Vaike the whole time, and was carrying his own bundle of wood. While I would like to attribute not noticing him to Vaike simply being too loud I knew it was simply something about Kellam that had meant I hadn't noticed him.

I looked back to the bread to see that Lon'qu had finished while I was distracted. "Alright, once the ovens are warm we'll put the bread in them. For now I want you to break ten eggs in a bowl and beat them. I'll get the pork ready."

The feroxi swordsman nodded, grabbing a bowl and moving towards the eggs as he did. I turned my attention towards the pork and grabbed a cutting board and a large wooden plate.

I grabbed a piece of pork and unwrapped it, setting it on the cutting board. I made three small cuts at the top of the meat before beating it with the dull edge of the knife to make it tender, then throwing some salt on it. That done I set it on the plate and repeated the process with the next slice, then the next.

"Stoves are hot!" Vaike called out, and looking between him and Kellam I noted that they had both lit their respective stoves and made sure they were up to temperature, a few extra logs sitting next to them to keep them warm as we worked.

"Thanks, if you don't mind could you slide those trays of bread into the oven, they need to spend a few minutes drying out." I was ready to turn back to the pork when Vaike spoke up again a few seconds later.

"Done, what next?" I looked up again and blinked.

"You want to keep helping out?" I questioned.

"Yeah, cooking may not be much fun normally but when there's food this good I'm looking forwards to the product." Vaike spoke up, nodding his head as he spoke, clearly remembering the burgers I had tossed together in Ferox. I looked over to Kellam who hadn't moved away from the stove either.

"You wanna help too?" A nod was the reply I got. "Alright then, you can grab some of these cabbages, ten should be enough, and start shredding them." Vaike made his way to the box of cabbage I had grabbed earlier, his hand reaching to his belt as he did.

"NOT, with your axe. There are graters over there grab one." Vaike gave me a confused look before simply shrugging and going for a grating board.

I looked back over to where Kellam had been to see him missing. It only took a moment to find him, he had gotten a grater when I wasn't looking as well as several cabbages and begun dragging the cabbage across the grater over a bowl.

Satisfied they were doing it right I went back the pork and managed to get well over half of the slices done before Lon'qu called out to me.

"Eggs are ready." I looked to where he stood, a bowl of eggs mixed in front of him and and a bunch of shells discarded on the counter next to that.

"Toss the shells out back, some scavenger animal will eat them. Then you can pull the bread out of the oven, put it in a bowl and start crushing it." The man nodded, sweeping all the shells into a bowl to carry before walking out of the tent for a moment.

I finished cutting and salting the pork, and was ready to start the next step when Vaike spoke up. "And Teach is done! Cabbage shredded, now time for the meat right?" I gave a sigh seeing I hadn't managed to change his attitude back in Ferox.

"I took care of cutting and salting the pork. If you wanna help more I need two pots of oil on the stoves."

"Got it!" Vaike jumped up, grabbing a pot and swiping running back towards the wagon where the barrel of cooking oil was stored.

I let out a small sigh before turning to look for Kellam, I found him a moment later, a pot in hand following after Vaike. "I'll start the second pot." The tall man gave me a warm smile, one I returned.

Turning pack to the pork I grabbed a bag of flour and poured some into a bowl before coating the pork with it. I had to make sure to shake of the excess while also ensuring the meat was fully coated.

"Bread is crushed." Just as I finished coating the pork Lon'qu spoke up.

"And the oils is hot, just like me!" Vaike spoke up as well, signalling his own completed task, and a quick glance confirmed that Kellam had finished as well.

"Alright, I can finish up back here. Vaike, Kellam, if you two can get the others the food should be done in about fifteen minutes, Lon'qu, could you go ahead and get the plates and cutlery ready?" I didn't have to look to know that my requests were being fulfilled, Vaike had rushed out of the tent, and even if Kellam couldn't get someone's attention Vaike could.

I began dipping the pork in the bowl of egg, then bread before lowering it into the oil. I was on my fourth piece of meat when Lon'qu walked up behind me carrying a stack of plates.

"I'd like to, apologize." That hit me like a ton of bricks. Apologize? For what?

"Why? As far as I'm aware you have nothing to apologize for." I turned to face the man as I spoke, he seemed serious about this.

"For our duel in Regna Ferox. When we fought I injured you, badly. The wound I gave you would have crippled many if they couldn't get a skilled healer, and even for you I can imagine how it would scar." I blinked at his words, surprised at the misunderstanding that seemed to have occured.

"No, no. You didn't do anything wrong, I chose to take the attack on my wrist, it was how I won the match after all."

"Still, I should've been able to control my attack, instead I was too shocked at the move to do anything, and you suffer for my mistake." Alright, I needed to clear this up.

"I didn't suffer at all." I held up my right arm, turning to show him where he had struck my wrist before. "It didn't scar." I clarified

"How?" Lon'qu leaned close, observing my wrist in detail. "I know how strong I hit you, I was surprised I didn't sever it, even with a skilled healer there should be a mark." I didn't really want to explain this but the man had clearly been worried for me, he deserved an explanation.

"It's a part of my magecraft. I'm a bit more durable than a normal person, not a lot but some. And I heal far better than most, it's not something I can use on others but it takes a serious wound to scar me, a lot more than what you did." A look of understanding dawned on the swordsman's face and he leaned back.

"I see. Still however, I struck you far harder than was necessary in a duel, and it was by my mistake that you were wounded. I apologize for my error." I gave a sigh in return, it seems he wasn't going to be convinced to drop it so easily.

"I said it's fine, but since you seem so intent on apologizing I forgive you." I paused for a moment debating whether or not to say this before continuing. "It was a good duel regardless. You are a skilled swordsman." And I meant it.

"Thank you, however you still beat me, and there is far to go." I knew that look in his eye, I had seen it in the mirror. Every time I held my blades, swung them in training and battle, and thought of others, of Lancer and Archer, of Berserker and Assassin, of Saber, the peaks I'd always strive to reach.

"I know the feeling. Sometimes there are those people, those who are so skilled they don't seem human." There was a reason they were Heroic Spirits.

"Yes, when I came to Ferox I knew I was strong, that I was skilled and fast with a blade. I doubted that any could beat me so easily." I saw where this was going.

"You were proven wrong. By who?"

"Basilio, he was a monster. There was a weight behind his weapon, a depth to it. After seeing what he can do I cannot call myself strong." His eyes were glazed over for a moment but they came to focus again on me. "What about you?"

I opened my mouth to reply before thinking. I couldn't tell him the whole truth but there were things I could say.

"The first time I stepped onto a battlefield, was five years ago. I was pathetic, Donnel would have wiped the floor with me as I was then, and the people who were on that battlefield, I have yet to see others who can match them."

"Truly? They were that strong?" Lon'qu were surprised.

"Yeah, they all fought differently, no two were the same, and yet they were all so strong. Some so strong trying to block was like trying to catch a mountain, so fast it was like trying to dodge rain drops. You could stand next to them and feel like you were an ant amoung giants, like they could destroy you with a glance." My gaze began to wander, the Servants of the Fifth Grail war were so strong, I was catching up, learning the tricks and dirty moves that had allowed EMIYA to stand amoung their ranks, but it was still so far away.

"I can see we are more alike than I had thought." I looked back to Lon'qu, a bit surprised, but I suppose he was right. We were both chasing giants.

"I know you do not plan to remain a Shepherd for long, but, while you are here, I would ask if you would like to train with me. I feel we could learn much from each other." I considered the offer, as long as I stuck to Bumeran and practice weapons and avoided my magecraft there was nothing I needed to hide.

"Sure, I'd be happy to." I gave the man a smile, and for the first time since I'd met him he gave me one in return.

"I am glad, then I will see you on training grounds when you are next available." With that he turned away, off to prepare dining ware for the Shepherds, and I returned to the food, to finish preparations.

* * *

"Thank you Shirou, this was delicious, this, uh, what did you call it?" I gave Chrom a small smile as I lifted a piece of pork to my mouth.

"Tonkatsu, it's deep fried pork. Normally you'd serve it with a sauce but we didn't have the right ingredients to make it." It was unfortunate, despite the impressive kitchen and ingredients considering the circumstances there were still a lot of items that technology had made common that were far rare in this world. Tonkatsu sauce and other such condiments were some of them.

For example, if I'd had ketchup and worcestershire sauce, along with a few other spices I'd have been able to make Tonkatsu sauce, but ketchup had to be made by hand from tomatoes and that alone would have taken all day.

"Well I think it's delicious regardless." Chrom spoke up again, leaning back in his seat. "I'm so glad I got Emm to hand you over." I didn't conceal my sigh, I knew that my cooking was a part of their motivations for recruiting me but I wished they'd stop bringing it up.

"I must agree with my lord, the food was wonderful. It was especially nice how the cabbage balanced out the greasiness of the meat." Frederick spoke up as well, and I felt a smile knowing that someone had enjoyed the vegetables as well as the main dish.

"Eh, I think it woulda been better with less veggies and more meat." Of course Vaike had to prove that someone did not mean everyone. "Still it was fantastic. I'm looking forwards to next time!"

"Alright then, Donnel, Stahl, you two are on dishes, everyone else we've got to march in the morning so make sure you get an early night." Chrom stood, giving out orders as he did so, and that was the sign for everyone to disperse.

I myself went to get back to my tent, I was still running low on sleep from my time preparing for the siege and tomorrow we'd arrive in Plegia proper, I'd need the rest.


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: Finally got around to finishing another chapter of this, it's been far too long. Now, I said in my last update (FGG Chapter 6) that I was going to be doing one chapter a month for the foreseeable future. Now, what I didn't mention was that that's a minimum. I'm well aware there will be times where I have far more free time and motivation to write than others, so when I can I'll be doing more than the one a month, don't expect this to happen very often, the only reason it is this month is because I have the chapter for next month done already, I'll be posting it on the second Saturday of February.**

 **Which brings me to the next topic, the next update will not b AtB or FGG, but a brand new story. This probably won't be a popular decision but this is a story I've wanted to do for a while and by expanding my current projects rather than simply idling when I hit a roadblock I can work on something else in the meantime.**

 **Now, last let's discuss this Chapter itself, this is the first time that the spotlight will be on the Shepherds for an extended period of time, and due to this we're introducing a lot of characters, that means a lot of character descriptions. Because of this some of them are short and light on details out of necessity and for anyone who doesn't play Fire Emblem that wants a better idea of what the characters look like Google is your friend.**

 **That's pretty much all I have to say, Ill give another apology for how late this was and while I'm not sure when the next chapter will be April or May should be the right time frame. And, as always, thank you for your continued support, and I give you Chapter 17 of Awakening to Battle.**

I fell back a half step, swinging the weapon in my hand up in an arc to cover my retreat as my opponent lunged in. I managed to draw his blade out of position with the move and pressed the opening by shifting forwards and thrusting out my own blade. Of course that alone wasn't enough to score contact and I found myself falling into a sequence of moves, thrust, slash, chop, pivot and slash again.

With each swing of my sword my opponent fell further back, dodging and parrying by the slimmest of margins while waiting for his chance to strike back. Unfortunately I couldn't keep up this kind of assault forever so sooner or later there'd be an opening for him to exploit, so rather than allow myself to make one on accident I did it on purpose instead.

It was a simple case of overextending, swinging my blade as if I was sure to make contact and when I didn't my momentum carried me too far, into a disadvantageous position. Any skilled fighter would know exactly what had occured, and more than a few ways to take advantage of it. But for a swordsman of my opponent's skill and strength there was only one choice.

His blade flipped in his hand, resting briefly on the flat of my own, pushing it further out of position and allowing him to attack my body unhindered, all the while pushing my body further out of position should I hold onto my sword.

So I let my sword go.

As my sword fell out of one hand the other clasped onto my opponent's wrist, and with a simple pull and the advantage of surprise they were pulled off balance. I turned my body so that my back was facing them, careful to keep their sword pointed away from me as I did so, before using the leverage provided to flip them over and toss them to the ground.

Within seconds I was straddling him, my own blade retrieved and held at his throat. For a moment the only sound was our ragged breaths before the man underneath me spoke up.

"Alright, I weild, the win is yours." I nodded silently, my panting interfering with my ability to properly speak. I stood and took a step back before holding my hand out for Lon'qu to grasp. The man gave me a small grin before accepting the gesture.

It had been over a week since that first day of marching with the Shepherds and things were going well so far. We had made it fairly far into the Plegian desert, and except for the occasional raid by guerrilla forces there hadn't been any major battles. It seemed Gangrel was more than content to let the desert wear us out before sending his army at us again.

We'd begun sparring on a regular basis shortly after I'd joined the Shepherds. It had been convenient for us to practice together since we were both early risers. Frederick had joined us a couple times but the larger man was far too busy with his duties to regularly join us. Besides, his own training leaned more towards exercise for muscle development while Lon'qu and I both preferred sword drills and sparring for skill growth.

"And once again I find myself falling in the very moment I thought I'd win. Even if I understand that style of yours Shirou beating you with it is another thing entirely." I gave my sparring partner an apologetic smile, though he had me on the back foot the entire fight with his faster movements I simply had to guide the fight towards my victory before seizing it. And while it was easy to understand the intentional openings left in my style, in the heat of combat any skilled fighter wouldn't have the time to second guess their instincts, and would fall for the trap regardless.

Still though, without using magecraft Lon'qu was a difficult foe.

"You shouldn't sell yourself short, keeping up with that speed of yours is pushing my limits, and if I can't afford to lock swords with you or you'll overpower me." I was faced yet again with how much stronger the humans in this world were, it wasn't like they were superhumans who could lift boulders or anything but even if I'd been using Lon'qu he'd be able to match me. It could be the mana density of the air or the close interaction with phantasmal species, I was no scholar, so even my random guesses were just that, if Rin were here she'd probably be able to figure a lot more out.

"Perhaps, but to be this powerful without your magic is impressive, I almost feel bad for our enemies when you finally do go all out." I hid a bit of a grimace at his words, that was a bit of a sore spot for me, but one I did my best to hide.

While Lucina and her friends from the future were something of a wildcard and could interfere with Grima's plans for resurrection, their abilities were at least familiar to the dragon, even Lucina's Falchion was no different from her father's, Grima would know how to deal with them.

He would not know how to deal with Balmung.

Or Ascalon.

Or Ardonight.

Or Gram.

But if the Fell Dragon or his allies knew about these weapons and their Dragon slaying attributes then they could prepare themselves for them, even revealing that I possess a wide variety of magical weapons would be more information they could use to prepare, so I had to limit myself greatly in what I traced, avoiding it whenever possible. This meant in the few skirmishes we'd been in so far I'd had to hold back, leading to more casualties than was strictly necessary for our side, it was to save more lives in the future, but it was still a painful thing.

My nose twitched for a second and I narrowed my eyes.

"Right then, Robin wanted a better showing of my accuracy with a bow so she could work me into her plans better, so I should leave." I stood in and made to walk away, Lon'qu seemed a little put off by my sudden haste but accepted it.

"Very well, then I will see you again tomorrow." I nodded and began walking away at a brisk pace. I quickly turned down an aisle of tents for visual cover and then made to change my route. I'd be able to sneak through one of the side paths, maybe resort to going through someone's tent. Once I reached the edge of camp I could go around the temporary fortifications and avoid my pursuer until they got bored and gave up.

My plan set I got prepared to put it to action when the prana signature I'd been avoiding suddenly changed directions and headed straight towards me. I cursed under my breath and began to double back, I could still get around her if I went through the mess hall, the smell of cooking food would mask my own scent and might serve to distract her.

Unfortunately my opponent must have known exactly where I was because even as I moved away and tried to lose them they honed onto me. My pace sped up until I was just short of jogging and it was seconds later I found myself staring at a wall of cloth tents that I realized I was cornered.

"YOU!" I spun on my back foot and caught sight of the one I had been trying to avoid. My instincts screamed at my to either run and hide or project a weapon to defend myself. It took every ounce of my willpower to not do either and even then I could feel myself involuntarily flinch back.

"You keep avoiding me, don't pretend it's not on purpose!" My pursuer gave me a small grimace, almost a pout really. "The other Shepherds all say how nice you are, if you're so nice you should play with me instead of running away all the time!" I felt an eye twitch as I looked at the one I'd been trying so hard to avoid since she'd joined the Shepherds a few days ago.

A short girl with long green hair and violet eyes, she looked like she couldn't be older than twelve or thirteen. The way she pouted at me and demanded a playmate cemented the idea that her physical appearance would match her actual age, but I knew better. To most the only indication of her inhuman blood would be the elongated ears, but magus were capable of sensing mysteries and prana with their senses, and this included phantasmal creatures.

The girl in front of me was not human, she was a phantasmal creature, a dragon.

Or more accurately she was a Manakete, a dragon, or the descendent of a dragon, who had stored most of their power inside of a dragonstone, allowing them to take on a human form unless they use their stone to shift back to their true form. Lucina had informed me about them, seeing as Nowi was a manakete and a Shepherd, and that her daughter, Nah, was also a manakete.

Foreknowledge hadn't prepared me for just how terrifying manaketes were, the amount of prana stored in that fist sized gemstone Nowi carried could put some Noble Phantasms to shame, and while for most it was easy to forget that this little girl was a weapon of mass destruction I was permanently aware of just how old and powerful she was.

Yes, that's right, because dragons lived so long there was one distortion in their human forms beyond the ears. They aged extremely slowly. For a dragon to reach maturity would take millennia, even the one in front of me was over a thousand years old, older than many nations in my old world.

I bit my lip for a second as I realized the dragon still wanted an explanation for my avoidance. Since she was supposed to an ally and I didn't really want to be dragon food I decided being friendly was the best bet.

Until I could get back to avoiding her like the plague that is.

"Er, you'd be Nowi right? It's nice to meet you, my name is Shirou, as fellow new Shepherds let's get along." I held out a hand for her to shake and tried to give her a winning smile even as the other hand tried to clench an imaginary handle.

Nowi's eyes narrowed as she looked at the outstretched limb. The manakete gave a sigh and seemed to drop the childish facade before she spoke. "Alright, what stories did you hear?" I blinked owlishly, not sure what she was referring to, my fear forgotten for a moment.

"Excuse me?"

"What stories did they tell you? I bet it was the one about a manakete eating the kids who stayed out too late, or maybe the one where a manakete devours all the sheep and cows in the village, and when he's still hungry starts to eat the maidens." The dragon in a human shell crossed her arms and began muttering to herself, leaving me even more confused.

"Er, I haven't heard any stories like that." Well, I'd heard stories like that about dragons in my own world, but the only things I'd heard about manaketes had come from Lucina.

"Really?" Nowi's eyes perked up for a moment before they narrowed again. "Then why are you so scared of me? And don't lie to me about it, I can smell it on you." Once again I was reminded of what I was standing in front of, and the pseudo sense of smell filled my nose. Fire, reptile, and _power_. I felt a shudder go down my spine before I sighed decided it was best to just be honest.

"It's an oddity of my magic," I explained "I can sense other magic or magical beings around me, as well as how powerful they are." I gave the inhuman being a knowing look and she seemed to realize what I was implying. "It's difficult to not be terrified of something you know could crush you like an insect when you're constantly being reminded of that fact." Sure, I'd stared down overwhelming beings like the King of Heroes, but that was when my ideal was on the line, something I was willing to die and walk through hell for. I wasn't willing to go that far just to play hide and seek.

The pout Nowi gave me said that while she understood the problem, she certainly didn't accept it. "That's not fair!"

"Er, what?" I paused, stunned at the outburst.

"I said it's not fair. You're not scared of me, or manaketes in general, it's just that stupid sense of yours, telling you to be scared." Well, that wasn't too inaccurate a description.

"That's simply the way it is, sometimes things aren't fair." That simply earned me another pout, followed by a new outburst.

"But they should be, and I'm gonna make it so!" I simply raised a brow at that proclamation, before challenging it with a question.

"And how exactly are you going to do that?" Silence reigned for a few moments as Nowi struggled to come up with a legitimate answer. Then she nodded with a sense of resolution before speaking.

"Then you just have to get used to it." I blinked for a second before I realized what she was implying.

"No no no no, we are not solving this with overexposure. Putting aside how, unpleasant, that would be for me, it could take forever!" The manakete seemed to pause and think, even putting a finger to her chin as she did so.

"Uhhhh, nope!" She giggled as I felt my despair grow. "I've decided, we're gonna get you over your fear, so we'll have to be spending a lot of time together from now own!" My face fell into my hands as I groaned. My life as a Shepherd just got a lot more stressful.

* * *

Robin gave me a strange look as I walked up to the archery range. I knew very well why I was getting that look, but more than anything I didn't want to talk about it.

"Please don't ask." I gave the tactician the most pitiful look I could manage, and though she looked curious after a moment she nodded silently.

Of course just because one woman had decided to respect my wishes didn't mean the other would.

"We're friends now!" Nowi called out from her spot on my back, her arms wrapped around my neck as she pulled herself higher when she spoke. I let out a groan in response.

"That is not what happened." Despite my best efforts I hadn't been able to get the manakete to leave me alone, and my attempts to do so only made things worse. She decided to simply ride on my back and no matter what I said she wouldn't get off, the only option left was to remove her physically, something I was hesitant to do since the dragon wasn't actually trying to harm me and I really didn't want to do anything to change that.

Robin gave me a sympathetic look, clearly she understood the small girl's whims even if she wasn't aware the reason behind this particular one. With that as settled as it was going to get I looked out towards the archery range, it was nothing more than a dozen bales of hay with targets attached, placed at varying distances in the sands outside of the camp. The best the army could do while on the move and more than suitable for the archers in the army to practice in between battles.

Robin had heard talk of my skill with a bow, and while I preferred to be in the thick of the fighting over serving as ranged support I knew the option of ranged combat could be used to more effectively save lives and end battles. When Robin had approached me about my limits with a bow I'd been honest. My limits were only the limits of my weapon, despite her desire to trust my word on such issues she couldn't really place lives in my hands without seeing for herself.

That was why the tactician and I were present, and Nowi had simply tagged along with me, but that didn't explain the fourth person's presence.

"Virion." I addressed the blue haired man dressed in fancy silks. "I didn't expect you to be here, you're not one to normally practice so early in the morning." To be blunt it wasn't early anymore, not for soldiers. If we'd been marching today we would've already begun packing up camp, the only reason we weren't was because we were scheduled to receive a supply convoy today and we'd managed to find an oasis to camp near yesterday.

Virion simply didn't possess the discipline of a soldier, even compared to other members of the Shepherds like Vaike who at least regularly trained or Miriel who rose early for her research Virion was borderline lazy in his habits, to his credit though the man was skilled enough to have earned his place, and while he wasn't a tactician by any means he did possess a sharp wit.

"Ah, well I simply decided that as the best bowman of the Shepherds it would be prudent for me to observe my junior's efforts." Virion ended with a casual wave of one arm, almost as if to say 'what can you do'. While I doubted his motives were so pure, he likely wanted to show off his own skill and reassert his position as the 'archerest of archers' as he put it, it would be better to have another skilled bowman to assess me rather than Robin's untrained eye.

I also chose not to mention that he and I were the only archers in the Shepherds.

"Alright then, I'll be in your care." I spoke plainly and nodded as I finished, before grimacing at the way the weight on my back shifted as I moved. "Nowi, I'm not going to be able to shoot a bow with you on my back like that."

There was a grunt of displeasure before the weight shifted, unfortunately it wasn't to get off.

"No, I'm staying! You'll be fine, think of it like a handicap." I could only groan and rub my face at the chipper sound in her voice. If this was what was awaiting me as a Shepherd I was suddenly considering desertion.

"C'mon Nowi, he's not going anywhere so you have to let him practice." Fortunately the tactician came to my rescue, there was an audible 'hmph' before the small dragon girl jumped off my back. I let out a sigh of relief before looking to my savior in confusion as she held out something for me.

"What's this?" I took the items even as I said it, confusion painted on my expression.

"It's a bow and quiver. You're not a very good archer are you?" I gave the women a flat look as she chuckled at my expense along with the other two. She spoke again this time giving a serious answer. "I know you prefer using the bow and arrows you conjure but you're also always going on about preserving your mana, we have plenty of extras too since the supply convoy arrives today."

I grimaced for a bit, I hadn't gotten myself a bow before because nothing made in this world could fire the heavy altered swords I used most often, though I had been holding back on using such things since I joined the Shepherds anyway.

I used all the detonator swords I'd made back in Ylisstol and without a forge I couldn't make more. I could trace them sure, but I was trying to conceal my ability to project magical weapons. It was a useful trump card, one I'd like to be kept secret for its future use.

"Alright, I'll use it." In the end I accepted, quietly reminding myself that I could always go back to using the oversized black bow if it was necessary. I grasped the bow in my left arm before slinging the quiver around my shoulder, using the leather strap attached to it to secure it. I shifted my arms a bit, reaching back to grasp an arrow a few times before making a few minor adjustments.

I looked over to the tactician to see her smiling at me. When I gave her a raised brow she simply stepped to the side and gestured for me to walk to the firing line.

"Alright, we'll start simple." Robin spoke as I took my position. "I'll call out a target number, with one being the nearest and twelve being the furthest, and you try to hit that target. We can move on to more complex stuff later." She paused for a second to allow for me to ask questions, when none came she spoke again. "Ready?" A pause. "Four!"

* * *

I rolled my right shoulder as I sat with my meal, stretching the well used muscles in my arm. I hadn't been using reinforcement during the earlier archery assessment, mainly because I could draw the normal wooden bow fine without it, and now I was beginning to think I should've.

Just as Robin said things had started simple, just calling out one target or another with a short pause in between shots. After she realized I wasn't going to be missing anytime soon like that she stepped things up, she began calling out numbers faster, eventually reaching the point where she couldn't speak any faster.

Then she began telling me what parts of the target to hit, outermost ring, top left, five, for example. Of course she couldn't give targets quickly like this but it was a fair test of my accuracy. A test I'd passed.

Now I sat getting my lunch for the day. While on most days soldiers were expected to either find their own food or simply grab some hard bread and jerky from the rations Stahl hadn't been too busy today and had decided to prepare some simple food for a proper meal.

It was a welcome surprise after the unexpected workout I'd received earlier, as was Nowi's decision to leave me alone for a time, she'd instead decided to pester Gaius for a while. The pink haired man was something of a rogue, specializing in stealth, lock picking, and less than legal acquisitions. He had joined the Shepherds to serve as a scout and infiltrator, as well as relieving of any enemies of their excess wealth so we could put it to our own use. His cost for recruitment had been, candy.

The man had something of a fondness for sugary snacks, and was already infamous in the army for his thefts of any good with enough sugar to cause a cavity. It was this though that saved me from Nowi's attentions, she acted like a child in many ways, including her appetite sweets and when a man who carries as much sugar walks by a dragon with an appetite for such things he's bound to be noticed.

So here I sat alone, enjoying my lunch without the constant fear of being next to something that could have me for lunch. Of course, in this army one couldn't be alone for long. Fortunately my new company was far more accommodating than the old.

"Shirou, I was hoping to find you here." I looked away from my meal to see who was had called out to me.

"Miriel." I smiled and nodded at the woman as she walked towards me. "I'm surprised to see you out of your tent today. I expected you'd spend the whole day reading when I found out we'd have a day of no marching." I smirked at the red head as she grew flustered.

"Yes, well, proper work requires food and drink to be performed properly." The mage adjusted her glasses as she spoke, and my own smirk only grew at her minor nervous tick.

"And that's the reason you're here, for food and drink? It has nothing to do with those notes I gave you yesterday?" I had ended up borrowing some writing supplies from the mage. With them I'd started making a list of runes based on the weapons I possessed. While there were far more ways to enchant weapons than just runes it was one of simplest methods and one that my over specialized magecraft wouldn't interfere with.

Having notes and actually learning the runecraft would help me to organize and actually use the knowledge that was in my Reality Marble. What I had was essentially a collection of completed math problems, some of them were just simple algebra, and even without much understanding of them I could figure out how algebra works based on the solved problems I have. Most of my enchanted would be more comparable to something like calculus, figuring those things out would take a lot of breaking down their components and knowledge gained from more simple weapons.

Then there were the Noble Phantasms, trying to figure out those was like giving a toddler a textbook on rocket science.

I could of course just rip enchantments straight off these weapons, like what I'd done for Bumeran and Kaunta, but of course that would severely weaken the mystery and wouldn't allow for any alteration to it. The best route was to put in the time and effort to actually learn the enchantments.

So, I'd been creating more and more notes, notes on what runes meant, on how the interacted with each other, on materials that helped or hindered the enchantments. And as quickly as I made them Miriel read them all.

Of course, intelligent as the woman was she did more than just read them. She copied them to make her own notes, created theories and hypotheses on how certain runes could act in certain situations, the only thing holding her back from experimentation was that an army on the march didn't have any of the tools she'd need for accurate measurements, or somewhere to conduct the potentially dangerous experiments.

And that all lead to this, the ever curious woman would often come to me to discuss her new ideas, and while I didn't have the same knack for the theoretical that most magus did I was the source of knowledge on the runes she was studying.

"Yes well, I did have this intriguing thought that wouldn't leave me." My smirk grew and while the woman flushed a bit she didn't back down.

"Why don't you get some food and then we'll talk."

* * *

After lunch with Miriel I'd decided to take a short walk before attending to the last piece of business I needed to get done for the day. After this my schedule was free so I found myself considering what to do with the rest of the afternoon, cooking dinner was an option but I'd be required to do that tomorrow anyway. I could always do some more training, I think Frederick was going to run some of the men through drills.

I was just about finished with my walk and was near the rear of the army when I heard said knight yell.

"What do you mean they're late?" My head snapped towards my destination and I quickened my pace a bit.

"Er, just that sir. You're right, they were supposed to be a here an hour ago, and they're not." I rounded to corner to see Frederick staring down a pair of soldiers, their job was to keep watch so that we wouldn't be caught off guard in an attack, and because today was a resupply they were supposed to welcome the caravan.

"It's not like it's a problem." The other watchman spoke up. "They're just running a little late it happens to people all the time." I could feel the heat from Frederick's gaze increase as the man spoke.

"It does not happen to military supply convoys 'all the time'. And even if it does that doesn't change the fact that you two were too lazy to inform your superiors of an ongoing complication." It was then that I was noticed. "Shirou, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here for the caravan, I'm supposed to inspect and finish enchanting the weapons David ships." Frederick's eyes narrowed for a second as he thought before he nodded, proceeding to note Bumeran and the bow and quiver Robin had given me.

"And you're armed, good." He then looked back on the two soldier. "I'll deal with your punishments later, for now, you go to the cafeteria and then the Shepherds' tents, tell any Shepherd they're to arm themselves and rally at the eastern end of camp. And you, find Robin, tell her the situation." The men quickly saluted and began running, whether to complete their tasks or to avoid the knight's wrath I didn't know.

"Shirou." He turned to me next. "I'm going to get Chrom, since you're already armed stay here and keep watch." I nodded, while I would like to go ahead and try to ensure the caravan's safety on my own this was an army I was in and solo actions like that could do more harm than good.

"Good, while I do hope that they are simply late the risk that things went poorly somewhere is too great."

"Hope for the best expect the worst." I spoke solemnly. While it was a great philosophy I found my expectations surpassed far too often.

* * *

I focused on the running, continuing to move forwards rather than considering what sort of fate the caravan could have met. It had taken about ten minutes for the Shepherds to gather, and less than that for Robin to have a plan.

It was a rather simple one to be fair but that's all we honestly needed, Sumia and Cordelia had usee their pegasi to scout, what they'd found, while bad, was far from the worst it could be.

The caravan was under attack, while the guards protecting it were still fighting it was believed to be a losing battle. The fliers had been forced to stay high to avoid enemy archers, that limited the details we got quite a bit but the girls were able to confirm that the ylisseans were heavily outnumbered.

This meant a speedy reaction was important, but in the desert the horses the ylissean calvary relied on couldn't move quickly on the sand, and the army didn't have enough pegasi left after the initial plegian invasion, so foot soldiers had to be deployed.

The Shepherds had been the obvious choice, we were a small enough group that we could deploy quickly, and our composition mixed enough that we could fight effectively on the sands. But the team going to aid the caravan would need to be fast and strong, they'd have to be jogging to the battle, moving quickly while preserving enough strength to actually fight after that.

That limited who could come quite a bit, Miriel and Virion couldn't run that far and still fight effectively, and Kellam couldn't run at all with his armor and this loose sand. In the end ten of us had been deployed in addition to the two pegasus knights, myself, Robin, Chrom, Vaike, Lon'qu, Lissa, Panne, Gregor, Nowi, and Gaius. It was a small force but that was how the Shepherds operated, small teams fulfilling key objectives to affect the larger situation.

I felt the sand shift beneath my foot and adjusted my weight accordingly, though I lost a bit of momentum due to the unfamiliar weight of the weapons I carried. The sands were difficult to run in, I was doing better than some of the others since I'd been to areas like this in my own world, some though were simply insane.

Nowi had wanted another piggyback ride from me, whether it was because she enjoyed the first one, to further acclimate me to her prana signature, or just because she didn't want to run herself I didn't know. But whereas before I'd been willing to accommodate her out of concern for my own safety now other lives were at risk.

Robin had been ready to step in and intervene when someone else took my place, the old mercenary Gregor. I wasn't sure where the pink haired man was from but his accent was reminiscent of a russian's from my own world. He was an older man, a veteran of many wars and a sellsword with a heart of gold.

And he'd decided to give Nowi the piggyback ride she wanted, all the way to the battlefield, in the sand, while carrying his own weapons and armor.

I'd thought it was just another example of how much stronger the people of this world are but then I saw Robin gaping like a fish.

I stowed my thoughts as I felt my nose twitch at a familiar and unwelcome sensation. I was getting ready to say something when I was beat to it.

"I can smell the Risen." Panne's quiet but stern voice came out from the front of the group as she pretty much spat out the words.

"Risen?" Robin's voice held evident confusion but she quickly shook it off. "Whatever, we deal with that later the plan hasn't changed." We began cresting a dune and those in front of me stopped or slowed, I soon knew why as I came to the top and could see the battle for myself.

The caravan was indeed under attack from a group of Risen, the dozen plus wagons had turned in on themselves to create a circle, the guards peeking out from the gaps to try and stem the Risen. Things weren't going well however, the monsters that weren't trying for the gaps were simply trying to climb over the wagons, it was a miracle they'd lasted this long. A miracle explained by a flash of blue hair I caught in my reinforced vision.

"Marth." I spoke aloud, using the fake name. My statement caught Chrom's attention.

"Marth? She's here?" The man took a few steps forward, raising a hand to the side of his head and squinting as if he'd be able to spot her.

I raised an arm and pointed the woman out. "Between those two wagons, she's holding the line, occasionally peeking out to finish off an enemy." It took a second for Chrom to see what I pointed out but he did. There was a conflicted look on his face for a bit before he shook his head and turned to the group.

"Time for that later, now we need to move." He looked towards the tactician who nodded and stepped up.

"Cordelia, Sumia," Robin spoke to the pegasus riders as they landed, "I need you two and Nowi to do some strafing runs, Nowi take the front and light the enemy up while so other two can pick off the wounded." The two knights nodded and took off, even as Nowi used Gregor's shoulders as a platform to kick off into the air and shift. I suppressed a shudder as her prana signature fluctuated and grew.

"Panne," Robin continued, even as Nowi's now ethereal voice giggled with flame trailing from her mouth. "You need to be the shock and awe here, rush them and push them around, keep them on the back foot so the infantry has an easier time." The woman nodded before beginning her own shift.

Panne was a taguel, apparently the last of her kind, part of a race that could shift between a humanlike form to one like a rabbit. It sounded cute until you realized they were the size of horses and as fast as one with the strength of a bear. Her fur was a dark black and covered most of her body except for her paws, head, and ears which were white.

Panne gave off an ear splitting shriek before dashing off, the sand kicked out behind her almost looked like water. Robin ignored it all and continued giving orders.

"Shirou, you're the only ranged support we've got here, you need to take up a position and start picking off targets of opportunity." My eye twitched at the order, I'd wanted to charge in their and force the enemy to turn their backs on the caravan in favor of targeting me, but I understood that wouldn't be the most efficient option and didn't voice my discontent.

"Lissa, you stick with the main group, we'll make an opening for you to get behind the wagons so you can help the wounded." The royal nodded, her staff clenched to her chest and a look of determination on her face.

Robin took a second to draw her sword off her hip and pull a tome out of the bag at her waist. "Everyone else, CHARGE!"

* * *

I drew another arrow from my quiver, pausing after I drew it for a breath before letting it fly. It went right through one Risen's head before pinning another's hand to a wagon wheel. The wounded target was quickly finished finished off by the Exalt himself. I paused for a second as I looked for another target, rather than simply firing as quickly as I could it was smarter to pick my targets more selectively, hitting those that were an immediate threat to my allies to keep them safer rather than end the battle more quickly.

An arrow to the heart of one Risen distracted two others enough that Gaius could kill one before it realized he was there. The second was dispatched after a thrown knife stumbled it enough that the thief could carve out its chest.

Things were going well, most of the Risen had been cleared out and the soldiers that had been hiding behind the wagons were instead pushing out to force the enemy back. Of course things would never be that easy.

Vaike was having difficulty with an opponent, one of the unarmed Risen whose only weapons were their elongated claws. Vaike wouldn't have normally had trouble with one or two Risen so I assumed it was something to do with this one, it was larger than its brethren after all.

I drew another arrow, taking a bit longer than I had before to make sure I didn't accidentally hit Vaike in the fighting. With a sharp twang the arrow flew true, impacting the Risen in the middle of the forehead, and the opening was used to deliver a devastating blow.

What?

I had to shake myself and blink for a few second to make sure I was seeing this right, the Risen hadn't even flinched at the arrow sticking out of it's head, and had used Vaike's own surprise to backhand the man, launching him almost a dozen meters away. I saw Lon'qu help the man up as Lissa dashed over, her staff already softly glowing in preparation.

I looked back to see the Risen wrestling with Panne, the taguel being pushed back despite the enormous weight advantage. I looked down at the bow in my hands before slinging it back over my shoulder and drawing Bumeran as I began to run.

Panne was thrown off just in time for a bolt of lighting from Robin to struck. It seemed to stun the monster for a bit but after a second it only seemed more enraged. A horrifying screech made most of the combat stop, as the ylissean soldiers unwillingly flinched the surviving Risen began to make an odd sort of chittering.

I felt my circuits heat as I pushed my reinforcement, running to intercept the large Risen even as it charged at the tactician. A fireball to one shoulder stunned it enough for a wind spell to knock it over in the loose sand. As it began to stand up a shield bash to the head from Gregor stunned it further, and the coup de grace came from the sky.

Like a bird of prey Nowi landed atop the risen, planting her arms over its own before opening her maw wide. With an ethereal and childish yell of 'Take this!' she unleashed a stream of flames, cooking the Risen alive even as it yelled and screamed. With the death of their apparent leader the rest of the Risen began screeching again, backing away as they did so, before one by one turning and running.

After pausing for a second at the almost anticlimactic ending I sheathed my sword and turned towards the caravan. There might be wounded and while I was no healer I could still help.

I spent my time helping to tie bandages and move the wounded to a central area, where Lissa and a few other healers were helping. It was after things had calmed down a bit that she approached me.

"Shirou, it is good to see you weren't executed as a traitor to the crown." I felt a small smile grow as I turned to see the woman I'd agreed to fight alongside. Despite continuing to use the pseudonym Marth Lucina hadn't gone back to using the mask, instead opting to hide her eye and the brand within it behind a curtain of hair.

"Well, they wanted to execute me for my heinous crimes, really did, but Chrom came in and said I was too valuable an asset to be lost in such a way, that my death would be a loss to not only Ylisse but the entire world." I shrugged as if to say 'what can you do?' even as Lucina gave me a raised brow and had a look in her eye callin my bullshit.

"Yes, I'm sure he said that, I bet they even had to beg you to become a Shepherd." I felt an absolute shit eating grin split my face.

"Well, I suppose Chrom just liked my cooking that much." Lucina let out a heartfelt chuckle as I just continued smirking, she may have gotten better at this game but she was dealing with a master.

"Marth, I'm glad to see you here though I do have to say I can't have you poaching valued members of the Shepherds." Lucina's expression became a little more forced, not out of any negative feelings to her father, but simply to hide what feelings and desires she did have.

"I assure you, I am here by coincidence alone." Though she faced towards Chrom Lucina eyed me as she spoke. "I heard what occured from David and his mother, I was actually asking the merchants for information on an unrelated matter when the Risen attacked, nothing more."

I rose a eyebrow in question but Lucina simply shook her head, telling me not to ask. Whether because I didn't need to worry about it or because she couldn't say in front of Chrom I didn't know. I also didn't ask.

Chrom gave the both of us an odd look at our silent exchange before he crossed his bare arms and spoke up. "Marth, are you planning to involve yourself in this war again?"

"Not immediately, but yes. Before this war ends I'll be joining you in battle again." The crown prince nodded slowly before speaking again.

"You know there is a place for you in the Shepherds, if you want it that is." Lucina seemed taken aback a bit at her father's forward offer.

"Even though I answer to a false name?"

"Yes." Chrom's reply was immediate and unhesitant.

"I see." And Lucina's was anything but, as she paused a moment in thought. "Perhaps in the future, but for the time being I have to decline, I have goals that need to be achieved first." I felt a bit of surprise myself, last time we'd talked about this Lucina had been fully opposed to it. It left me to wonder what had changed.

"Very well." Chrom didn't seem at all upset to have been turned down, if anything he seemed happier than before. "It is a open offer if you ever choose to accept." Chrom turned to look at me this time, and though he spoke more slowly and with a bit of hesitation but all the same commitment.

"If it is both of your wills, and necessary for these goals you speak of, I can have Shirou released from duty to accompany you once again." I did a brief double take, before staring at the man in shock. Was he serious?

"Can you even do that?" Chrom gave me his own smirk at my words.

"I am the Supreme Commander of the Ylissean Army, I can do whatever I want. There will be a little blowback from the commanders of course, but Shirou is pretty well liked around here, and if we explain that he and you will be joining the Shepherds for the final battle they should be pretty much okay with it."

"I never said I would be aiding in the final battle." Lucina spoke out, sounding just a bit offended at the assumption.

"But you're not denying it now are you?" Chrom snapped a finger and gave her a cocky grin as he spoke.

"He's got you there." I only chuckled as Lucina shot me a dirty look.

"Well, what d'ya say?" Chrom 's smile didn't fade as he asked Lucina for an answer, one she wasn't immediate in giving. She gave me a questioning gaze and I simply shrugged, I'd been all for closer cooperation with the Shepherds all along but if Lucina needed my help with whatever she was doing here I'd be there.

"No." Lucina shook her head slowly, her hair waving behind her as she did so. "Shirou knew what he was getting into when he went against Emmeryn's orders in Ylisstol, and we both expected a far worse fate to await him. At least for now he can continue the sentence he was given. And besides, he serves our goals just fine by fighting under your banner." Chrom's grin only grew.

"And you prove me right to be trusting the both of you yet again." Lucina gave a light scoff before beginning to turn, pausing halfway through the motion to speak.

"The Risen earlier, they retreated after the Entombed was killed." Chrom blinked a few times in confusion at the abrupt subject change.

"Entombed? Would that be larger one from earlier?" Lucina nodded. "That's strange right? None of the Risen we've fought before have fled."

"Not so much unusual as it is rarer." Lucina pointed out the minor distinction and continued. "Risen tend to fight to the last man, or monster as it is, they only retreat when something more intelligent is controlling them." Chrom's eyes narrowed at the words.

"What kind of something?"

"It depends, most often it will either be a more powerful Risen or occasionally an exceptionally skilled dark mage."

"A dark mage you say. As we stand in a nation that worships Grima and trains mages in the darkest of spells? One we are currently at war with?" Chrom, while not nearly as clever as his tactician was more than capable of putting the pieces together.

"Don't leap to conclusions, though in this case it isn't much of a leap." Lucina made to turn away once again when Chrom stopped her.

"Hold. How did you learn so much about Risen? I'd never heard about them before that night we met and yet you know more than any scholar or mage in Ylisse." Lucina's mouth hung open for a moment before she came up with a suitable answer.

"Experience." She stated simply and finally, before turning to walk away once again. Chrom didn't stop her but he did turn to me with a huff.

"What?" I spoke up, my own arms folded. "Don't expect anything out of me." The royal gave a good natured scoff.

"Figures."


End file.
